


The Power of Two

by Its_Virgil



Category: Battle For Dream Island (Web Series)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 37,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26102995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Its_Virgil/pseuds/Its_Virgil
Summary: This is my interpretation of The Power of Two and what I would imagine it to be like. The Huang twins said it would have more arcs for characters; a bit more serious. Let's see how our contestants handle that.It's time to compete for ultimate power.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 39





	1. Episode 1: TWO Many Teams

It’d been a few days since Two appeared and flipped everybody’s world upside down. No object knew what to do after Two split the group and sent Four, X, and the BFB crew...somewhere. They’d told them that they were somewhere on Earth, but none of the contestants trusted ANY of these omnipresent numbers. At least they FELT omnipresent. No one was able to breathe with Four and X around without one of the two knowing about it.

Two was different, though. Two didn’t stick around after their work was finished. Someone would die (usually somebody fragile, like Bottle or Bomby), Two would appear out of thin air similarly to Four, bring them back, and then they’d be off as if they had better things to do. Nobody knows where they go. They even used his infinite power to fix up the bathrooms. They made all the grass grow back and fixed up Golf Ball’s underground factory.

Two was just as big an enigma as Four or X; the only difference was how indifferent Two seemed to everyone. They were friendly, sure, but they didn’t interact with anyone unless they needed to.

Pen sighed and looked off into the horizon. He and Eraser were sitting at one of the picnic tables by Gelatin’s Steakhouse, though the restaurant was closed to its owner’s absence.

“Another beautiful day in North Goiky.” Pen said aloud to nobody in particular. The fields were pretty quiet today. He saw the members of Death P.A.C.T. standing a ways away, and the rest of Free Food (sans Eraser of course) were doing the same.

Pen felt terrible about his relationship with his team. They were good guys, if not a bit eccentric. Tree, Pie, and Black Hole were chill; he got along with them the best. Pillow, Remote, and Bottle were a bit more on the strange side, but they’d still been pleasant enough. Despite how weird they were their hearts were always in the right place. I mean, that was the whole point of Death P.A.C.T., wasn’t it? To keep people safe and alive? An admirable goal, Pen thought.

That’s what made him feel so bad. Despite how friendly his team was Pen still didn’t feel comfortable with them. He’d been the very last one to be put on a team and only ended up with Death P.A.C.T. because they still needed one member. It hadn’t been a good feeling, and since then, Pen had felt excluded. However, it’d been his own fault. He’d made the decision multiple times to opt-out of group activities he’d been invited to, choosing instead to spend his time with his usual group of friends.

Speaking of his usual friends.

Eraser’s snoring stopped as he lifted his weary head off the table. He wiped a little bit of drool from his mouth and looked out to where Pen was watching and knew precisely what he was thinking about.

“Just go talk to them,” he sighed, “sitting here with me isn’t gonna do anything.”

“It’s not about that.” Pen said, turning to Eraser.

“Then what is it about?” Eraser asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I just...don’t have a lot in common with them,” Pen put his face in his hands, “Didn’t you have the same issue with Free Food?”

Eraser shrugged, “In the beginning, I guess. I wasn’t close to any of them, but then I started talking to them. Turns out they’re pretty chill.”

Then he remembered Fries and Yellow Face existed.

“Most of them, at least.”

Pen watched Death P.A.C.T. and their antics. Remote was chatting with Tree. Pillow and Pie were using Black Hole, almost like a roller coaster. They circled in his orbit, occasionally using the momentum to launch themselves up into the sky; he always caught them. The only other member was Bottle. She was sitting staring wistfully into the distance.

“My team is chill too, but that’s why I feel so bad.”

“Why?”

“BECAUSE they’re chill. It makes me feel bad that they’re so nice.”

“Do you think you’re...not nice?” Eraser guessed.

Pen just shook his head, “It’s not that. It’s just that not having something in common with them doesn’t feel like a good enough reason not to be attached to them.”

Eraser groaned, already very tired of this conversation. He was never one to put much thought toward...anything. He hated having deep emotional conversations, and he wasn’t about to start enjoying them just because Pen was his friend.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Eraser started, thinking his next words over carefully, “Two is probably gonna put us on new teams once TPOT officially starts.”

“Hopefully we’ll be on the same team this time; Snowball too.” Pen said with a snarky tone.

Eraser rubbed his arm, uncomfortably, “Yeah. Sorry about that again.”

Pen chuckled, “It’s cool. Not like it matters now.”

“You know what the worst part about ending up on Free Food was? No free food!” Eraser shouted indignantly, causing Pen to go from soft chuckling to full-blown laughter.

Pen already felt a little bit more relaxed. He’d originally thought BFB was going to be different, better than how BFDI had gone. Things almost immediately took a turn for the worse when he ended up on a team with none of his friends. Now Blocky was off still competing on BFB.

Maybe TPOT could be different.

* * *

_I should’ve just stayed at OJ’s hotel…_

Nickel looked out over the cliffside at the passing clouds, deep in thought. He was greatly regretting coming back to Goiky. He’d left the hotel not long after his elimination. He’d gotten a pretty cold reception upon his arrival. The majority of them didn’t even remember him. A few of those that he’d spent months on end within the TLC with did remember him, though. Lollipop and Balloony had recognized him right away, but that was no surprise. Lollipop never forgot a face, and Balloony was just a good people person.

He missed them both.

He missed his team.

He missed Baseball.

“Nickel! I could use your help at the moment!” a strained voice called out. Nickel couldn’t help but smile.

_At least I still have Cloudy._

Nickel turned around to see the cloud struggling to push a large metal table to his collection of miscellaneous items. Rocky was with him, but the armless one wasn’t helping him. The majority of Beep was gone, either eliminated or in BRB. Cloudy and Rocky weren’t much, but at least they were still there. Leafy, Woody, and Balloony all went off to BFB, and Roboty and David had been eliminated.

He hoped that, at the least, a Beep member would win BFB.

“I’m coming, Cloudy!” the coin ran to his friend, and the duo pushed the table into the pile of clutter.

Cloudy sighed, “Thanks, Nickel. That was a heavy one.”

“No problem, my boyonocerus,” Nickel said, trying not to let his melancholy mood seep into his voice. It didn’t work as Cloudy raised an eyebrow in concern.

“Are you okay, Nickel?” Nickel knew that tone. It was the tone Cloudy used when he knew something was wrong, but he wanted you to tell him instead of him forcing it out of you.

“It’s just,” Nickel looked away, past Cloudy and at Rocky. He was sitting quietly on the grass, staring vaguely at the sky, “I miss the rest of the team, I guess.”

“That’s it?” Cloudy questioned. Nickel looked away, feeling extremely self-conscious now. “Don’t feel bad about that. That’s normal but look to the future. TPOT is a new beginning for us and Rocky!” Cloudy exclaimed happily.

Nickel frowned, “You say that, but I’ve been in more than one season of these types of shows. And I can promise you that they were no different from each other. Both are a waste of time.”  
“It’s only a waste of time if you don’t get anything out of it.” Cloudy floated down to be eye level with Nickel, “Did you really not get anything out of Inanimate Insanity?”

Nickel looked to his feet. He wasn’t sure. He didn’t think he did. He’d hated every second of both seasons. It was only ever fun when he was with Baseball and his other friends - which weren’t plentiful, he might add.

“It’s hard to say. I hated every second of it. I was always angry, and I was so...aggressive to everyone. And I…”

_“I just can’t forgive the way you’ve been treating Balloon, game aside.”_

_“I voted for you, Nickel! Because you’ve NEVER been a true ally to me!”_

“May’ve burned a few bridges.”

“That rough, huh?”

Nickel sighed and walked away from his two remaining Beep members, no longer wanting to dig up his skeletons.

Cloudy wasn’t sure how to proceed. He was torn between forcing closure out of Nickel and letting him go. But he knew there was no point in trying to push Nickel to a breakthrough. That wasn’t how it worked. He was worried, but the coin was smart. Cloudy was confident that he’d work it out for himself eventually. He then looked to Rocky and then to his collection.

“Let’s get back to work, little one.”

* * *

Book was lying back against the restroom-concession building, watching a few her remaining peers wander the plain, trying to find things to do. Snowball and Fanny were arguing about something while Lightning was trying to break them up. After the show split, Iance wasn’t much of a team. She saw Pin and Coiny chatting quietly with Eggy and Needle not too far away from them. The Losers had stuck together much better than any other team after the split. Even with Loser himself gone the team just seemed closer to each other than all the others.

She wished that her team had been as cohesive.

But that was partially her fault, she supposed. If she hadn’t been so cruel to Taco then maybe the remaining Bleh members would want to talk to her. Saw, Gaty, and Ice Cube had been ghosting her for the last couple of days. ICY, OF ALL PEOPLE! After everything she’d done for her!

Book sunk deeper into the grass, watching contestants roam around. She was so focused on what was ahead of her that she hadn’t been paying attention to her right side.

“GRASSY! Stop running so fast! You’ll hurt yourself!”

“Golf Ball, that clearly isn’t working.”

Grassy ran past and past all of The Losers. He was ridiculously, much faster than you’d ever expect someone as small as him to be. Golf Ball and Tennis Ball rounded the corner after him; they were both winded.

“How...how is he that fast!?” Golf Ball heaved, dropping to her knees.

“He’s...just grass, GB. Of course, he’d be swift.” TB sat down - huffing and puffing like his life depended on it. The running had taken a much greater toll on TB then GB.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Blocky was so much better at this then I am!” Tennis Ball gasped as the words left Golf Ball’s mouth. She just admitted that BLOCKY was better than her at something.

Book could only roll her eyes at the exaggeration and decided to make herself known.

“Why’re you guys chasing Grassy?” she asked, sounding bored. The out of breath duo jumped at the unexpected third voice.

“BOOK!” GB shouted, scrambling to her feet, “How long have you been there?”

“I was here before you, now can you answer my question?”

“We were trying to organize a meeting with our remaining team members,” TB said before looking down sadly, “but we’ve been having a few issues in doing so.”

“Grassy keeps running away from us, and we can’t even find Basketball, TV, or Robot Flower!” Golf Ball yelled, letting out her frustration. She punctuated her rant with a quiet growl/grumble. TB patted her on the back in a fruitless attempt to calm her.

Book shot the tennis ball a sympathetic look. GB almost always woke up in the morning with her mood already at a low boil, but everyone in Goiky had seen her when she was really and truly mad. And Book could tell that she was getting close to snapping. Her eye was twitching and she was practically vibrating as if her rage couldn’t be contained in her small frame.

“The only ones Grassy listens to are Blocky and Basketball.” Tennis Ball lamented. Book nodded, understanding their plight. Blocky was on BFB and they apparently couldn’t find Basketball.

“I’m a leader, not a babysitter,” GB grunted, “I have better things to be doing than chasing Grassy!”

Golf Ball, despite all her intelligence, had the patience of a child. TB had no issue watching Grassy and making sure he kept out of trouble, but he’d also promised Golf Ball he’d help her in the underground factory. Grassy was way too wild to be allowed in the factory, thus forcing the sports balls to work aboveground. An immediate way to get on Golf Ball’s nerves.

And chasing Grassy around the plains wasn’t helping.

“Look, GB. I know it may be frustrating, but Grassy is a member of your team. Treating him like a baby isn’t going to help anything. Blocky understood that.” Book said sagely.

Golf Ball scoffed, “You of all people have no right to lecture me on team comradery, Book.”

Book flinched at her words. She wasn’t wrong. “I guess we both have stuff to work out,” she said coldly before turning and walking away from the duo.

She heard the sound of GB huffing followed by her footsteps growing distant, but the second pair of footsteps followed close behind her as she walked around to the front of the bathrooms building.

“Aren’t you going to go help her?” Book asked TB, stepping onto the small tiled plaza in front of the bathrooms. Donut was talking to Bomby and Naily, lecturing them about something. Barf Bag was leaning against the door to the girl’s bathroom nearby, keeping an eye on the conversation.

“She can live without me for a second,” TB said, giving the dictionary a small smile. Book couldn’t help but smile back. There was something about Tennis Ball that made you trust him; made you want to open up. He was nothing like Golf Ball, and that only made their friendship more confusing.

“I don’t understand how you can tolerate being around her!” Book couldn’t help but raise her voice. She was angry. She’d been angry for a while now. She was angry she couldn’t tell Taco she was sorry. She was angry that she’d messed up so badly with her team. With Ice Cube.

“It’s…” TB trailed off, looking anywhere but Book, “complicated.” he finished lamely. Book crossed her arms.

“I’m serious!” TB exclaimed, a blush on his cheeks, “I know it may seem like GB is just angry and doesn’t care about anyone but herself, but I can assure you that the opposite is true.”

“You say that, but private life isn’t what matters. It’s what you show people.” Book poked TB in the chest, “And what GB shows people is a real jerk!”

“I’ve tried to talk to her about it, but she thinks the way you do!” TB blurted out nervously without thinking. Book cocked her eyebrow at his answer.

Before she could respond, the sound of a boom and something entering the atmosphere interrupted them.

“Out of the way, everyone,” Donut yelled, pulling Bomby and Naily away from the plaza, “Two’s coming in hot!”

Book and Tennis Ball barely had a moment to react before Two slammed down in the middle of the bathroom plaza. Barf Bag was blown back into the girl’s bathroom by the force. Book got away in time to feel only a little wind on her back, but she watched as TB fell flat on his face and started rolling forward.

Two stood up straight and dusted themself off. “Whelp! You guys have done enough waiting, I’d say!” he beamed.

With a swift snap of his fingers, he teleported the objects that weren’t there directly to him. Book, Tennis Ball, Donut, Bomby, and Naily just walked back onto the plaza.

“I’m glad to have you all here because it’s time to start competing!” Two said.

Marker jumped to his feet in excitement, “You mean we don’t have to wait anymore!?” He started shaking Foldy in anticipation.

“It’s about time,” Fries whinged, “a bunch of us give up on Four’s show and then you keep us waiting.”

“While I don’t agree with Fries’ way of putting it, he does have a point,” Eggy said, “why’d you keep us waiting?”

“All of my time up to this point has been spent with preparations, and now everything is officially ready for The Power of Two!” The green number jumped high in the air and held out a peace sign.

“What? Were all your preparations done in space?” Clock asked, sounding skeptical.

“Most of them, yes.” Two nodded. Pin elbowed her fellow loser in the side. She didn’t want anyone going and upsetting them. Two was more even-tempered than Four, but that didn’t make them any less powerful or dangerous.

“So, what do we do now?” Remote questioned, her robotic voice curious. Two suddenly appeared next to her, and arm wrapped around her. “Now we set up the teams!”

Pie raised her hand, “Question. Can we keep our old teams? All my members are here except for Liy, and that’s because she was eliminated.” the rest of Death P.A.C.T. seemed to agree with her, nodding and concurring with each other. All except for Pen, who stood silent, awkwardly rubbing his arm.

Two shook their head, “Nope. Sorry guys, but we’ll be picking new teams for TPOT.” they said sadly.

A small uproar broke out among the objects. Marker and Foldy were clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it, TB and GB were sharing weary looks, and a few of them just looked downright angry.

One of them being Fries.

“That’s ridiculous!” he said angrily, “Free Food still has all but one of its members! Why make us give that up when we already have these established relationships?”

Fries hadn’t noticed it himself, but while he was ranting he’d subconsciously moved closer to Puffball, who’d been floating nearby.

Nobody paid it any attention, but Bell could’ve noticed it from a mile away. She wasn’t a fan of Fries; very few were. She knew why he was giving Two a hard time about the teams. He didn’t really care about Free Food, he cared about having people he’d already worked with on his team. It was like that with all of them.

Except for Puffball.

Puffball would always get a pass with Fries, and Bell had no clue why. She didn’t know much about what happened during BFDIA since she’d spent it all in the TLC, but Yellow Face had shared a little info. Puffball had done...something during BFDIA that screwed over her team. She didn’t know what, Yellow Face wouldn’t elaborate. Fries had been on the team that Puffball had messed with, along with Golf Ball, Gelatin, Rocky, and a few others that Bell couldn’t remember at the moment. She had no clue what Puffball did, but it had gotten her eliminated. GB still held a grudge about it.

But for some reason, Fries didn’t. He always went easy on her.

Two crossed their arms, “The whole point of The Power of Two is to NOT be BFB, and having you be on your BFB teams would be counterproductive to that.”

Fries was about to raise another objection but was stopped when Eraser elbowed him. He saw this as his chance to get a new team with Pen, and he didn’t want Fries being Fries to get into the way of that.

“So how are we going to pick new teams?” Black Hole asked in his usual monotone.

Two smiled, happy to change the topic, “I’m glad you asked. We’ll do it like this!”

Two raised their arms into the air and the ground around the contestants began to shake.

In the blink of an eye, the forty objects were teleported to the top of a high platform off to the side of the bathroom plaza. Underneath the platform were four large pipes, each a different color. They were red, blue, yellow and green in that order.

“I’m going to remove the platform you’re standing on and you’ll fall down those colored pipes that will have you randomly sorted onto four teams of ten.” Two yelled up to them.

“How can you be sure we’ll be sorted evenly?” Tree yelled back while clinging to Robot Flower out of fear of falling. She was the most stable person to hold onto other than TV, but TV was on the other side of the platform.

Two popped out of existence and popped back into existence floating next to the platform, a wide smile on their face, “I can assure you that it’ll work just fine, now let’s get to it!”

Before anyone could react Two reached down, grabbed the platform, and flung it off into the horizon. A cacophony of screams echoed into the air as all the objects fell into the four tubes.

“Now let’s wait at the bottom!” Two announced to no one in particular as he teleported from the sky down back to the ground again.

At the exit of the four pipes were four mats of the same colors. The pipes had giant doors over their exits. Muffled shouting could be heard, followed by a loud slam as the contestants landed against the exit doors.

“Let’s see who ended up in the red pipe!” Two sauntered over to the red pipe and opened up the door, causing ten objects to spill out and land on top of each other.

“I hated that!” Fanny barked, pulling herself out from underneath Eraser, who was knocked out upon impact.

“I agree with Fanny,” Saw said, rubbing her head, “there has to have been a better way to do that.”

“Probably, but that doesn’t matter now! This is your team! Bell, Cloudy, Fanny, Lightning, Pie, Saw, Eraser, Golf Ball, Needle, and Book!” Two cheered.

Golf Ball was the next to get up and became immediately confused. “Where’s Tennis Ball? He’s supposed to be on my team! He’s ALWAYS on my team!” she hollered, her voice frantic, almost panicky.

“Not this time, I guess.” Needle commented, “Looks like you’ll have to learn how to function without him.”

Lightning looked over his team and felt a bad feeling build in his gut. Snowball wasn’t on his team, so that sucked. Fanny was still with him, but that didn’t mean much. He and Fanny weren’t close. However, Fanny wasn’t close to anyone. Her aggressive standoffish behavior made it so that no one wanted to be near her.

Golf Ball wasn’t as rude as Fanny, but she was bad in her own unique way. Eraser had a bad lazy streak and he knew nothing about everyone else, so he felt pretty alone at the moment.

He was pulled from his thoughts by someone poking him. He whipped around and saw Pie looking up at him, a bored expression on her face.

“Uh...yeah?” Lightning asked, feeling uncomfortable with Pie’s staring. She poked him once again.

“So you can zap people, right?” she asked, still sounding bored. Lightning blushed, unsure of what to say. So he answered honestly.

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

This was going to be tough.

“There’ll be time for you guys to get to know each other later, but we have to get moving,” Two announced, interrupting the teams squabbling, “You guys will simply be known as the Red Team!”

“Seriously?” Bell questioned, incredulously. Two raised an eyebrow, “What’s wrong with it?”

“That’s the best you can come up with?” Cloudy asked, agreeing with Bell’s point.

“At least Four let us name our teams.” Book concurred.

Two frowned, harder than they ever had since first showing up, “I would suggest you stop comparing everything I do to Four. I’m not them.” they said, dead serious.

Book had nothing to say after that.

Two turned to the blue pipe, a smile returning to their face, “let’s move on to the people in the blue one!”

He took off the door and ten more tumbled out onto the blue mat below them.

“OUCH!” Ice Cube belted out as she landed face first. That wasn’t what she was screaming about, however. She was screaming because Naily was embedded in her back.

“OMG! Icy, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it!” Naily shrilled, sounding just as upset as Ice Cube herself.

“Just relax, both of you,” Pin walked over to her new teammates and carefully plucked Naily from poor Icy’s back. Ice Cube sighed in relief, the intense pressure now gone. Coiny ran up to the trio with blinding speed and picked up Pin, who was still holding Naily above her head.

“That's a job well done, Pin!” the coin said, pulling Pin close, “it’s fast-acting like that that makes you a great leader!”

“Yeah, Pin, I appreciate it.” Naily smiled, leaping from her grasp.

Despite being red herself, Pin’s blush was still noticeable. She rubbed her head, embarrassed. “It was...not a problem.”

“That’s great and all,” Fries groaned, picking up one of his fries and putting it back in his container, “but can I get some help as well? I’m missing a fry.”

“Here. Is this it?” Tree asked, holding what was obviously the missing fry, a cheeky smirk on his face.

Fries snagged it from him, “Yeah, that’s it. Thanks.” he grumbled, not sounding very thankful. He slid it gently into his container and immediately felt his muscles relax. He had all six back; he was whole again.

“Tree!” A feminine voice shouted, causing Tree to turn around. Pillow and Bottle ran up to him. “We get to still be on the same team!” Bottle bounced up and down with excitement.

Tree sighed, “But we lost Remote, Pie, Pen, AND Black Hole!” Pillow only shook her head, “That’s not a worry Tree. It just means we have new people to prevent death with.” she said softly.

“Yeah. Good luck with that.” Clock said, who was standing nearby. He always thought Death P.A.C.T.’s goal was a strange one; not to mention fruitless. When people were so fragile and death was so...impermant, that team was made up of probably the only people in Goiky who cared about dying. At least he still had Pin and Coiny.

Tennis Ball looked around confusedly. He was still a little delirious after tumbling down the pipe so fast. Where was Golf Ball?

“G...GB?” TB asked, doing his best to keep his footing. He bumped into Tree, who proceeded to point at the Red Team.

“She’s over there, TB. Sorry, but you guys got separated.”

Tennis Ball could only half register what Tree was saying before falling over and passing out.

“Great! Naily, Clock, Ice Cube, Bottle, Tree, Fries, Tennis Ball Coiny. Pin and Pillow. Now that you’re all acquainted, I dub you...The Blue Team!” Two whooped, nearly bursting from how hype they were.

“So, that is the naming scheme you’re going for. Great.” Needle said sarcastically, taking stock of the Blue Team. They were even more hectic than her team, and that was saying a lot.

Golf Ball looked to her friend on the other team, concern written all over her expression.

“Worried about TB?” GB jumped at the sudden voice of Eraser right next to her. He must’ve woken up at some point. She quickly recovered and let a short hmph.

“TB is not someone to be worried about, he can take care of himself,” she gave him a side glance, “and besides. Shouldn’t you be the worried one? Pen’s not on the team like you most likely wanted.”

Eraser shrugged, “Eh, I’m not worried. I can survive without Pen. Question is can you survive without Tennis Ball?” he said before walking off to chat with Bell and Cloudy.

Two moved over to the yellow pipe, “Let’s see who ended up in yellow!”

Two pulled the door off the tube and Bomby rolled out and landed on the mat.

“Bomby?” Two asked, bewildered, “Where is the rest of your team?”

“They plugged up the pipe. They were afraid that bumping into me would ignite me,” he said.

“Is he out?” a masculine voice echoed through the pipe. “Yeah, he’s out.” Two responded.

At Two’s word, the other nine fell through the pipe. Snowball got his feet, pushing Gaty and Nickel off of him.

He looked over the group and groaned, “Oh my snowflake, are you kidding! Half the team is missing arms! How are we expected to win any challenges like this?”

“Way to sell us short, Snowball,” Nickel said sarcastically, Gaty and Eggy nodded, agreeing with the coin.

“Yeah. Who’re YOU to say that we’ll hold you back?” Eggy asked, frustrated. Snowball gave her a deadpan look before pushing her over, causing her to slowly roll off the mat.

Gaty looked down at her feet, feeling dejected. All her fellow Bleh members had been spread out among the other teams. Book and Saw had each other on the Red Team, and Ice Cube didn’t even like their team at the end.

“Hey. Don’t let Snowball get to you. Guys like him are just a bunch of hot air.” Nickel said, walking up to Gaty.

Gaty looked to him, a sad smile on her face, “It’s not that. It’s just that...I’m going to miss my old team members, is all.”

“I get that. Cloudy is on the Red Team, and Rocky isn’t out yet so I guess he’s going to be on the Green Team.” Nickel gestured to the final unopened pipe. Somebody behind the door was banging on it.

“Tell me about it,” Eggy said, having gotten up from Snowball’s attack. She had a small crack on her back, but nothing too serious, “all of my original team members are on the other teams too.”

Gaty looked up, suddenly upbeat, “Maybe we can form, like, an alliance then? Three armless teammates missing their friends?”

Eggy smiled wide, “I love that idea! We could go all the way to the end! I don’t think an armless contestant has EVER won BFDI!” she quickly turned on her heel to face Nickel, “Please tell me you’re in too, Nickel?”

Nickel stepped back, unprepared for the sudden intensity the girls were emanating. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be in this “alliance”, but he didn’t feel like he had any other options.

“Yeah, let’s do it. Nothing to lose right?” Nickel said with a smile on his face, though it was visibly strained. If Eggy and Gaty noticed they didn’t say anything.

“FOLDY!” Marker yelled with a smile so wide it threatened to split his face, “WE GET TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM AGAIN!”

Marker practically pounced onto Foldy, pulling her into a bear hug. She wheezed from the sudden constriction, but still managed to smile at her friend. “I’m...happy, Marker, but it’s...kind of hard to...breathe.” she choked out.

Robot Flower stiffly walked over to Donut and TV. TV had landed screen first when he fell out of the pipe and Donut was helping him up.

“TV! Are you okay?” she asked as Donut finished sitting him up straight. His screen was black before a large thumbs up appeared on it, accompanied by a confetti sound effect.

Donut wiped a bead of sweat from his head, “Whew! That’s good! Would hate for a teammate to start with a cracked screen.” He said, satisfied. Snowball marched up to the trio.

“This is what I’m talking about! This one can’t even talk!” he yelled, pointing at TV. Robot Flower was about to come to her friend's defense before static lit up his screen.

“I CAN. TALK. CAN YOU NOT. UNDERSTAND ME?” TV jumbled out, using different clips from the past BFDI seasons to compile a choppy sounding sentence.

Snowball got the point though, an angry sneer replacing his regular frown, “Why you outdated hunk of-”

Before he could turn TV into scrap, Two jumped between the duo, “Eggy, Donut, Nickel, Bomby, Gaty, Marker, TV, Foldy, Snowball, and Robot Flower. You guys are officially the Yellow Team!”

Before the Yellow Team had a proper chance to blow up in each other's faces, Two speeded over to the green tube.

“Now let’s meet our final team!” they said, pulling the door off. The final contestants slid down and out of the tube and onto the green mat.  
“YAY! That was fun!” Grassy cheered, laying on top of Basketball. She couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s antics. She was like Blocky; one of the two people that Grassy actually listened to.

“We are on the same team again,” Remote said, helping Pen to his feet, “this is very exciting.” Despite Remote’s tone, she meant what she said. She was happy to still be with a member of Death P.A.C.T., and she was even happier when she saw Black Hole slowly float out of the tube, along with Puffball. She gave Pen a reassuring pat on the shoulder before running over to Black Hole.

Pen put his arms at his plastic sides, not very happy. The whole point of the new teams was to be with Eraser or Snowball, and now he was with neither. Not only that, but he hadn’t even fully escaped Death P.A.C.T.

Remote and Black Hole were strange, but they were okay. Pen could appreciate how chill Black Hole was with everyone, and he’d been one of the main contributors as to how the team avoided elimination so many times. And in regards to Remote, Pen would be the first to admit he knew very little about her.

“Aw! I spilled some of my puke!” Barf Bag said, groggily getting to her feet. She shook her head and looked at Cake, who was sitting next to her, partially covered in vomit.

“Yes. Yes, you did,” he said, unamused. Barf Bag cringed. Not a good way to break the ice.

Cake got up and walked off, not bothering to give BB a second glance. Maybe it was a little rude. I mean, she didn’t mean to spill her innards on him, but still, it was gross.

As he walked he wasn’t paying attention, causing his foot to catch on something. He landed directly on his face.

“Are you okay, Cake?” Basketball asked. Grassy was sitting on her head and staring up at the sky.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said gruffly. He looked behind him to see what he tripped over and saw Rocky sitting quietly.

"Oh great," Cake groaned, getting up, "we got TWO barfers on our team."

"I'm not a barfer! I'm just filled with barf!" Barf Bag added angrily.

"Isn't that sort of the same thing?" Puffball questioned. She wasn't trying to rile anybody up; she wasn't sure if it'd be the same or not.

“I don’t think so.” Basketball added, turning down and letting Grassy hop off her head, “Barf Bag didn’t vomit, she just happens to be filled with vomit. That’s different.”

Cake felt like he could cry. He didn’t think that the start to a brand new team could go this poorly. The Losers hadn’t been the same after Loser was eliminated, and Cake didn’t take the elimination well. The Losers didn’t feel right without Loser. He wasn’t close to anyone else other then Loser, and why would he need anyone else? Who was better than Loser?

He missed Loser.

“Remote, Grassy, Black Hole, Barf Bag, Pen, Puffball, Basketball, Cake, and Rocky! You guys are the final team; the Green Team!” Two chirped, tossing a small amount of confetti into the air.

“That’s great and all, but uh…” Black Hole stated, floating high above his team, “how come we only have nine?”

Pen looked everyone over and did a silent headcount. He came to the same realization Black Hole did, “Hey, he’s right! We’re supposed to have ten! Where’s our last member?”

A small murmur broke out between the teams, confused as to how someone could disappear. There were forty of them when they were teleported; how could someone just vanish? Two watched the confusion, a small smirk on their face.

Then someone found out who was missing.

“Where’s Yellow Face?” Fries asked. It took everyone a second to register what Fries said, but he was right. The large yellow face was nowhere to be seen.

“Did he not make it through the pipe all the way?” a concerned Basketball asked while turning to Two, hoping for some kind of answer.

“He’s fine.” Two said, putting their hand up, “I talked with Yellow Face privately, and he will not be competing.”

Confusion once again broke out amongst the contestants? They could do that? Just...not compete? Yellow Face’s old teammates on Free Food were the most worried.

“Well, where is he?” Bell faltered, almost sounding scared.

“Why isn’t he competing?” Foldy asked, trying to console a panicked Marker.

Two snapped their fingers and a loud ringing noise emanated from them. The contestants quit their quailing in favor of covering their ears. Some dropped to their knees while others screamed to drown out the noise.

Two clapped their hands together, and just as quickly as it started, the ringing stopped. The contestants heaved and huffed, the high pitched tone having taken years off of some of their lives.

“To answer Bell’s question,” they said slowly, “he’s currently at his warehouse, and to answer YOUR question,” they pointed to Foldy, “he isn’t competing because he said he wanted to focus on selling his products.”

A wave of understanding washed over the group. “Makes sense, I suppose,” Saw said, pulling out a bottle of Lollipop brand fork repellent, “Lollipop’s products have been kicking Yellow Face’s into the dirt.”

“Well, that’s because they’re better,” Book stated matter of factly, before turning and seeing Bell’s frowning face, “uh...no offense intended to Yellow Face, of course. Heh heh…” she chuckled awkwardly.

“What does that mean for us?” Pen asked, getting the conversation back on track, “Do we just have one less player than the other teams?”

“Nope. You guys have the honor of taking on the recommended character that won the vote!” Two grinned.

Everyone had completely forgotten about the recommended character. Two had gone so many months without talking about TPOT that it wasn’t much of a surprise that it slipped their minds. Nobody knew anything about the twenty-six possible joining contestants. Nobody had even met them.

“Without further ado, everyone please welcome the joining recommended character: Winner!” Two shouted. With a handout and a familiar drumroll (no one knew where that came from either), Winner appeared before them.

Everyone groaned. Out of all twenty-six options, this was the one they wanted the least. No one was sure what it was about Winner that made them so unlikeable, but the first time that anyone saw them made them upset. Maybe it was the fact they reminded them so much of Loser, but the fact that they were not Loser made them resent them in a away.

Winner looked around confused before their eyes landed on Two. “Oh! Is it time for TPOT to start? Did I win the vote?”

Two eagerly nodded, “Yes you did, and there’s your team over there!” Two pointed to the Green Team, who looked less than thrilled to be receiving the recommended character.

Winner walked to the green mat, a smug grin on his face, “Hiya, team. Put her there.”

A long arm made from the same material as his body appeared from on top of him and extended outward toward the closest Green member, who happened to be Pen.

Pen, torn between not wanting to be rude and not wanting to interact with Winner, swallowed hard and slowly shook their...hand. It was soft, softer then he was prepared for. It sent a shiver up his spine as Winner shook his hand up and down before letting go.

Two clapped their hands together, “Now that the teams are all set up, we could get on to the very first challenge of TPOT!”

“Finally.” Tree proclaimed, nudging Bottle, “My leaves were starting to fall-”

Before Tree could finish his sentence, he and all the other teams were suddenly teleported onto four very tall stilted platforms. Much higher than where they were with the colored pipes.

“Off.” Tree finished lamely, staring down at the deathly plunge. The bathrooms were now a dot from where they were standing and a stiff breeze could very easily wipe one of them off.

“I’m getting tired of all this teleporting!” Golf Ball shouted against the wind. Eraser was holding onto Bell, who was ringing like crazy due to the high winds pushing against her.

Two teleported with them, but they were further away from the platforms on their own, smaller platform. There was a pyramid of rubber dodgeballs next to them. Everyone had an idea where this was going, and no one was happy about it.

“I’m going to randomly throw these dodgeballs at you and know you off the platforms. The team who gets all their members knocked off first loses and will be up for elimination.” Two said, picking up one of the balls.

Snowball raised his hand, “Can we knock other people off?”

Two smiled, “Yes you may. Roughhousing and sabotage are very much encouraged!”

“Yes!” Snowball fist-pumped, excited at the idea of wreaking havoc. Marker and Foldy shared a look, making a silent agreement to keep on the opposite side of the platform, far away from Snowball.

“One more thing before we start,” Two said, snapping their fingers. Puffball, Cloudy, and Black Hole suddenly all felt much heavier. Two had taken away their ability to fly. Remote caught Puffball and Needle caught Cloudy and Lightning. Nobody can touch Black Hole for...obvious reasons, so he just plopped down onto the platform.

Bell was a little different. She wasn’t flying technically, but she also wasn’t touching the platform. So Two counted her in; cutting her wire and dropping her onto the red platform.

“AND GO!” a loud ding rang out as the words left Two’s mouth, and then all hell broke loose. Two began hurling dodgeball after dodgeball at blinding speeds. He moved like a sprinkler, starting at the platform furthest to the left (Red Team) and making his way to the right.

The barrage tactic worked on a few. Eraser had the reflexes of a sloth, so knocking him off was child's play. Two got lucky with the next hit, getting Tennis Ball, who fell back into Coiny, sending them both off the platform. The Yellow Team proved difficult; Snowball and Donut were faster than Two anticipated. He got a lucky shot in on Robot Flower though, knocking her off. The Green Team was the only team that managed to avoid losing anybody. Two took two shots, one at Cake and one at Black Hole. Cake managed to dodge and the one fired at Black Hole made contact, but kind of...fell into him.

Two pulled back and turned their attention to the first team again, giving Green Team a moment of respite. Puffball looked over sadly at Blue Team’s platform. She looked over just in time to see Fries dodge a ball and it hit Ice Cube, who was standing behind him. She slid across the platform and right off the edge, eliminating her.

“Are you okay?” Remote asked. Oh yeah, she was still being held by Remote. Puffball watched Blue Team scatter around their platform, trying to gather themselves as Two moved on to Yellow Team.

She watched Fries. He was helping Tree to his feet after he got hit but didn’t fall off the platform.

“Do you miss your team?” Remote queried, giving Puffball a small shake in an attempt to bring her out of her trance.

“I do.” Puffball admitted, “I already miss them and it hasn’t even been one challenge.”

Puffball felt terrible. She was so ready to take on TPOT with her friends. With Fries and Bell. And then all of a sudden she gets dropped onto a new team and none of them were from Free Food. Yellow Face wasn’t even competing!

“Maybe this could become a good thing,” Remote lifted Puffball and turned her so they were face to face, “new friends can be good. This could be that chance.”

“Watch this, guys! Prepare to be amazed!” Winner shouted as they caught the dodgeball flying toward them with their extendo arm, but then immediately got drilled with a second ball, sending them off the platform.

Remote glanced at Puffball, who was giving her an unbelieving look. Remote gulped nervously.  
“Nobody is perfect.”

* * *

Snowball watched Winner fall and knew he had to act quickly if he wanted his team to win.

“We need a game plan,” Donut said with determination, “anyone have any ideas?”

“Can we even do anything other than dodge the balls?” Nickel questioned. He then winced, watching as Two nailed Pie in the face, causing her to spontaneously combust.

Snowball shut his eyes in thought for a moment, before they flew open, a small grin on his face. Before Nickel could react, Snowball picked him up and threw him like a discus at the Blue Team’s platform.

“SNOWBALL!” exploded Donut, red with anger, “WHAT WAS THAT!”

“Two said we could sabotage, so I’m sabotaging.”

“We were already down a teammate,” Foldy chastised, “we couldn’t afford to lose Nickel.”

“You’re worrying too much,” Snowball blew her off, “just watch.”

* * *

Fries was in the middle of assessing the damage done to his team. The Blue Team had taken the most hits so far, having lost three of their ten. Bottle was sitting at the edge of the platform, looking out at the sky. Both him and Clock said that it was a bad idea to sit so close to the edge, but Tree had told them that it was best to just let her be. Bottle was tad...scatterbrained, even airheaded. She was nice, but her head was a lot like her insides: vacant.

Pin was sitting with Naily, chatting about something or another, and Tree was sitting with Clock.

“According to my calculations, our chances of winning this challenge are somewhat low.” a soft voice said from right behind him causing him to jump. Pillow was behind him with a clipboard, and she was fervently scribbling something down.

Pillow was the strangest member of his new team. He got lucky to have Tennis Ball, Coiny, Pin, and Ice Cube on his team. He knew them well enough and it didn’t require Fries getting to know them. Everyone else was out of Fries’ control, and Fries hated being out of control. Clock and Tree were similar to him, and Bottle and Naily were friendly and eager to help the team. That left Pillow.

She was soft-spoken, and yet she was outgoing and eccentric. She also saw herself as a scientist of sorts.

Fries snagged the clipboard from Pillow’s hands and looked at her “calculations”. The paper was covered in random squiggles and spirals of all different colors. Fries looked to Pillow for some kind of explanation, but she was just smiling expectantly at him.

“We’ve lost three teammates, so we have the smallest team right now.” Pillow pointed at a particularly large spiral that was a deep blue color.

Before Fries could tell her off, he was stopped when he saw something flying towards them from Yellow Team’s platform. He squinted; it looked like a grey disc, and it was flying fast.

Fries yanked on Pillow’s arm and pulled her out of the path of the oncoming disc. The disc, which they could now see was Nickel, harmlessly flew past Fries and Pillow and hit Bottle instead. She shattered into little pieces; some of those pieces falling off the platform. Clock was quick to rub it in.

“I told her not to sit at the edge of the platform! I TOLD YOU!” he shouted at Bottle’s remains. The rest of Blue Team was still watching Nickel skip off the edge of their platform and make his way over to Red Team. Nobody over there was prepared for it, but it was Needle who was the unlucky victim. Nickel connected with her side. She was still holding Cloudy and Lightning, and Nickel’s direct hit sent all three of them, plus himself off of the platform.

“What was that!?” Saw screamed, leaping to her feet, “What just happened!?”

“That was Nickel!” Book shouted back, looking around as if to check for other incoming projectiles.

“How could it have been Nickel!?” Bell rocked back and forth, her clapper ringing loudly, “There’s an entire platform in between him and us!”

Fries whipped around to look at the Yellow Team’s platform and saw Snowball trying to get Donut to high five him. To Donut’s credit, he wasn’t having, and neither was the rest of his team. That makes sense, Fries thought.

“It’s Snowball,” he said, getting both teams to quiet down, “he threw Nickel.”

“That tiny brained troglodyte!” Golf Ball shrilled. Her teammates could almost feel the heat of her hatred radiating off of her.

“What do we do,” a frantic Naily asked, hopping from one foot to another, “none of us are as strong as Snowball.”

“Maybe not by ourselves,” Clock interjected, “but I have an idea if you’ll hear it.”

“Yes! Please, Clock, share your idea!” Pin said with a little too much enthusiasm. She’d be the first to admit she was overcompensating for the time The Losers forgot that Clock had died. She’d felt terrible ever since the incident happened, and she was sure that Clock hadn’t forgiven them.

Clock looked taken aback by Pin’s eagerness but composed himself with a confident grin.

“So, here’s what we’re gonna do.”

* * *

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!”

Snowball stumbled back as Donut shoved him. He’d expected his team to be a little more grateful.

“What?” Snowball defended indignantly, “I just got four people out.”

“Yeah, at the cost of Nickel!” Eggy yelled, stomping her foot.

Snowball pointed over at the Red Team’s platform. “Red Team has five people left now. If I throw a few more of you guys then we can knock them off and they’re up for elimination.”

“Why do we need to knock each other off at all? Two is doing enough damage.” Gaty said as she watched Two hit Rocky off of the Green Team’s platform.

“Because Two said we could,” Snowball said, his arms crossed, “I’m helping move the challenge along.”

“Guys,” Marker said, looking past his teammates.

The rest of the Yellow Team just ignored him though, continuing to argue. “If we’re good enough then we can just wait out the other teams!” Donut said, still angry.

“We can’t rely on that!” Snowball roared, stepping up to Donut. SB was much bigger than Donut, and yet Donut stood his ground.

“We’ve been doing fine so far,” Foldy argued, standing next to Donut.

“Guys,” Marker repeated, a little louder this time, but still nobody paid him any mind.

“If you let me throw Bomby or TV then we could end this like that,” Snowball said, snapping his fingers for emphasis.

“NO!” Bomby screamed, stepping away from the group. TV couldn’t respond with proper words, but the large thumbs down and frowny face that flashed onto his screen got his point across.

“GUYS!” Marker said a third time, this time screaming it.

“WHAT, MARKER?” his entire team yelled back at him (sans TV).

“NAILY!”

Marker pointed at the sky and his entire team turned around to where he was pointing.  
Marker was right. Flying down toward their platform was Naily. She was facing them backward, her spiked end heading for them like an arrow. She flew in between Snowball and Donut. She was like a heat-seeking missile, her sights set on one specific person.

And that person was Bomby.

“Everyone hit the deck!”

That was all Donut had time to say before Naily made contact with Bomby. Bomby was sensitive, even for a bomb. It didn’t take much to set him off, and a high-speed nail piercing him was more than enough to get the job done.

Bomby exploded, sending fire and shrapnel in every direction. Eggy was shattered by the explosion; yolk and eggshell everywhere. Foldy was pretty much disintegrated by the fire. Snowball almost instantly melted from being so close to the intense head.

Gaty, Donut, Marker, and TV luckily weren’t destroyed by the explosion, but it did send them careening off of the platform, eliminating them from the challenge.

Naily, being metal, wasn’t destroyed by the blast, but she was blown back and off the platform along with the other members of Yellow Team.

Two admitted a loud horn noise, causing the remaining contestants to flinch.

“And that’s the challenge! The Yellow Team are our official losers!” Two said.

In a flash, all the remaining contestants and Two were teleported back to the ground.

“Congratulations Red, Blue, and Green Teams! You guys avoid elimination!” Two said happily.

The teams cheer, happy to not be the first ones to lose. Saw pulled Fanny into a hug, much to her chagrin. Basketball, with Grassy happily swaying on her head, high fived (foot?) Remote.

“Did it work?” a high pitched voice called out. Naily, covered in ash and scuffs, stumbled over herself to reach her team. “Did the plan work?”

Tree pat Naily on the head, “Yeah, Naily. Went off without a hitch.”

“YAY!” a delirious Naily said before falling on her side.

“Now, I’ll bring back the dead contestants.” Two said, and they did just that, respawning those that died from the fall off the platform and the Team Yellow members that died in Bomby’s explosion.

“Team Yellow! You guys lost, so you’ll be the ones up for elimination!” Two announced, pointing at the offending team.

“Well, that’s just great!” Snowball huffed, folding his arms. He didn’t notice the rest of his team sneering at him.

* * *

**“Use the link below to vote on who on Team Yellow you want to be eliminated, and tune in for episode two to see who was eliminated! Voting ends September 7th!"**

**(VOTING FOR THIS EPISODE IS NOW OVER)**

**Voting Poll:**  
**https://www.poll-maker.com/poll3084729x15c14Fa4-96**

* * *

**Teams**

**Red Team** : Book, Golf Ball, Eraser, Bell, Fanny, Saw, Lightning, Needle, Cloudy, Pie

 **Blue Team** : Pin, Tree, Pillow, Fries, Coiny, Clock, Bottle, Naily, Tennis Ball, Ice Cube

 **Yellow Team** : Donut, Eggy, TV, Snowball, Robot Flower, Nickel, Foldy, Gaty, Marker, Bomby

 **Green Team** : Black Hole, Pen, Remote, Puffball, Winner, Grassy, Barf Bag, Cake, Rocky, Basketball


	2. Episode 2: Wreck the Mech

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The teams are forced to battle giant robots and also each other!

Saw was a simple girl.

She did her best to never ask for a lot, and she never wanted a lot either. She was a bit of a worrywart, yeah, she’d be the first to admit that, but she wasn’t a nag or anything.

“I hate listening to you!”

“I don’t care! I am your team leader, and you do what I say!”

“Just declaring yourself leader doesn’t make you leader, Golf Ball.”

“I did not ask you, Eraser!”

Saw grumbled and covered her ears. It’d only been a day since Two made the new teams and she was already prepared to ask Two for some kind of change. Bleh had had

“Being “leader” doesn’t make you better than us!” Fanny shouted, her forehead pushed against Golf Ball’s forehead. The two had been arguing ever since the first challenge ended. Fanny and Golf Ball were incredibly different, but if there was one thing they had in common it was how argumentative they both were.

“Maybe not, but it DOES me you have to listen to me!” Golf Ball yelled back, pushing back against the force of the fan.

The Red Team had been a mixed bag so far. To put it simply, some of them were getting along and some weren’t. Bell, Cloudy, and Lighting were getting along swimmingly so far. All of them being air bound and lacking legs made for a good ice breaker. Who would’ve guessed? Pie was a floater; not getting close with anyone but also getting on with everyone fine. She was an enigma. Nobody could figure her out.

Eraser, Book, and Needle had been keeping to themselves for the most part. Being a part of new teams without anyone from their old teams (sans Bell and Eraser) was taking a toll on them, it seemed. Saw was in the same boat. Bleh had been hard to work with, but at least she knew them.

That left Fanny and Golf Ball…

“Even if you _were_ the leader, I don’t have to listen to you when we aren’t in challenges!” Fanny huffed before turning on her heel and walking away from the group.

GB stammered, stuck between wanting to get in the last word and being too surprised by Fanny’s abrupt exit. So, she just settled on turning red with anger.

“FINE! BE LIKE THAT!” she barked at the disappearing figure of Fanny. Saw rolled her eyes. She agreed with Fanny. No one on the team decided that Golf Ball was the team captain, so who was she to just start shouting orders at everyone?

“Yelling isn’t gonna help anyone, Golf Ball,” Eraser said tiredly, his arms crossed.

GB quickly turned to Eraser, her anger having found a new target, “And what do you care anyway, Eraser? You don’t care about anything!” she yelled in his face. Eraser stepped back, surprised by the outburst. His face was blank, but then he turned away with his hands up in a “forget it” gesture.

Golf Ball could only mumble indignantly to herself as she stared daggers into Eraser’s back as he walked off. She flopped down onto the grass and shut her eyes in frustration. She was saying something that only she could hear.

Saw couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her. She wasn’t good at socializing; I mean, she only had one friend. Tennis Ball was the only person Golf Ball ever really spent her time with, so not being on the same team as him was taking its toll.

Golf Ball looked over to her, a sneer on her face, “Are you going to leave too, Saw?” she asked bitterly.

Saw shook her head, “Where would I go? It doesn’t benefit anyone to run off with people on my old team.”

 _Not like I’d have anyone to run off with,_ Saw thought sadly. The duct tape that had been holding Bleh together had been straining, and the team mashup had caused it to finally snap. Teardrop, Lollipop, and Taco had taken off to BFB, and Gaty, Book, and Ice Cube didn’t really care about Bleh at the end of its run.

Saw needed the Red Team to work out. She didn’t have anything else to fall back on.

“Look, GB,” Saw said, sitting next to the girl, “you’re probably the smartest one here, but that doesn’t equate to _emotional_ intelligence.”

“This isn’t how you get people to like you. You push too hard,” Saw explained, “you can’t expect people to blindly follow you.”

Golf Ball looked away, sighing in defeat. If she had fists they’d be clenched. She got to her feet and gave Saw a side glance.

“I have things to consider. Thank you, Saw,” she said gruffly before walking off. If Saw was correct then she was most likely heading to her underground factory.

Saw leaned back and looked up at the sky. She had no clue what to do. Golf Ball was too stubborn to accept anything less than a leadership role, but her team was brimming with bullheaded individuals, especially Fanny. They weren’t the types to change.

Saw got up and started walking, on the hunt for any other members of her team other than GB and Fanny. The Red Team was disjointed and uncooperative, but she needed it to work…

She didn’t have any other options.

* * *

_“You push too hard, Golf Ball~” FEH! What does she know anyway?_

Golf Ball made her way down the steps of her underground factory, still fuming from her argument with Fanny. She knew that working with the fan would be a mountain of an obstacle, but she’d miscalculated how hard it’d be.

She’d been miscalculating a lot lately.

GB shook her head, trying her best to drown at her thoughts with the industrious sounds of the machines and conveyor belts surrounding her.

Golf Ball found the loud clanking and whirring of the machines in her factory calming. They acted almost like white noise. Tennis Ball always thought she was nuts for finding comfort in the noise, but she couldn’t help it being around it for so long.

She finally reached the bottom of the stairwell and was surprised to see someone already waiting down there by her workbench.

Speak of the devil.

“What’re you doing down here?” GB snapped at Tennis Ball. She hated it when anyone other than her was in the factory, but TB was the exception.

“We haven’t gotten a chance to talk since the split,” TB said calmly, getting off of her workbench.

Golf Ball looked away, prepared to take off back up the stairs, “There’s nothing to discuss.” she said dismissively.

TB shook his head, “I’m not sure about that.”

GB shut her eyes and walked past TB over to her workbench. The wall teleporter that she and Tennis Ball had taken from the Yoyle City Museum sat in pieces; taunting her. She’d been dissecting the item for years now, but she still couldn’t figure it out completely. That isn’t to say that her efforts have been entirely fruitless. She managed to modify it a little so as it no longer needed a month to heat up (she got it down to about a week and a half) and it could now teleport two people at a time as opposed to just one.

“Well, what could you possibly want to discuss, dear Tennis Ball?” she asked flippantly, snagging a screwdriver in between her teeth and honing in on a loose screw on the teleporters power plate.

“Please, Golf Ball, don’t be like this,” TB said from behind her, “we may not be on the same team, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t talk to each other.”

“I’m not being like anything, TB,” she said through clenched teeth as she tightened the one loose screw. She spit it out and turned to her companion, “I’m having no issues with this spit, now you should probably head back to the Blue Team. I heard Fries was trying to get you all together.”

Tennis Ball wanted to say...something. _Anything_ to make his friend see reason, but he knew that it was usually best to leave Golf Ball alone when she got like this. He hated leaving arguments unresolved, but she didn’t want to discuss the issue. She gave him one more side glance before turning back to her workbench.

Being Golf Ball’s best friend was a tiring experience, but was much more rewarding than anyone viewing from the outside would expect. Tennis Ball had never been one to brag about his intelligence, but most of the people around him weren’t what you’d call academics. Especially the original cast of BFDI. Any conversation he was forced to have with Eraser or Firey made him want to put his head through a wall. That wasn’t to say there weren’t a few intelligent castmates. He could talk with Needle, Pin, Leafy, and a few others, but none of them were as smart as Golf Ball.

He and Golf Ball were kindred spirits, he felt. They took to each other almost immediately when they’d met, and they’d been close since. He’d learned to live with her...quirks.

Most of her quotes were annoying, yes, but whose weren’t?

“Alright,” TB said finally, turning back to the stairs, “I’m not that far if you change your mind.” and with his words in the air, Tennis Ball made his way back up the stairwell.

Golf Ball held her breath and waited until she couldn’t hear TB’s footsteps anymore before releasing it.

* * *

“He said he’d be here when I last talked to him.” Pin told Fries. The Blue Team was sitting together at the Bathroom Plaza. Fries had asked his team to meet up earlier to discuss some strategies. The only one who’d yet to show was Tennis Ball. Pin and Coiny had been talking to each other almost the whole time. Pin kept trying to include Clock in on the conversation, but Clock seemed to have no interest in interacting with his old Loser teammates. Tree and Naily seemed to be getting along nicely, and Bottle and Ice Cube took to each other well. Pillow, surprisingly enough, had been sticking by Fries’ side for the most part. You’d think that she’d want to be around Tree and Bottle, but Fries was who she’d been shadowing since the team split.

Fries folded his arms, “Well, I’m glad that’s what he told you, but he isn’t here.” he said sarcastically.

Pillow patted Fries on the back, her clipboard tucked tightly under her other arm, “It’s fine, Fries. We don’t need Tennis Ball here to hold a meeting.”

“We kind of do.” Clock said gruffly, “It’s not a team meeting if the entire team isn’t here.”

“Agreed,” Tree said, getting to his feet, “there are a million other better things I could be doing, but you have me waiting for Tennis Ball.”

“TB is smart,” Coiny added in, “but TB can also be a bit scatterbrained. Oh, and clumsy!”

This had to be a new record because Fries was _already_ regretting the decision of a team meeting. This is what he got for trying to create comradery, he guessed. His team wasn’t receptive to his attempts, but at least Pillow was trying to help. 

“I’m here!” a voice called from behind the group. TB ran up from behind them, panting like a mad man.

“See!” Coiny yelled, “I told you he’d show up!”

“Where’ve you been?” Clock questioned, ignoring Coiny. Tennis Ball huffed and puffed, completely out of breath. “I...was...meeting with...somebody.” he heaved.

Coiny elbowed Pin and wiggled his eyebrows at her, “Oh geez, I wonder who that could have been.” he said coyly. Pin couldn’t help but giggle at her friend's antics. Even going as far back as the first BFDI, Coiny always gave TB and GB a hard time about their relationship. TB was always a good sport about it, GB...not so much.

“You shouldn’t be galavanting around with members of the other teams,” Fries said sternly, not even needing to ask who Tennis Ball was with to know who it was he was “meeting” with. He didn’t hang out with anybody other than Golf Ball, so who else could it be?

“Lay off him Fries,” Naily chastised, “he doesn’t have to be around us twenty-four seven!”

“Agreed!” Bottle cheered happily. Fries felt his head throb from irritation.

“That may be, but how can we trust a teammate who doesn’t stick with their team?” Fries said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t want anyone to talk back. That didn’t stop Pillow, for she couldn’t read a room to save her life.

“But Fries,” Pillow blurted, looking down at her clipboard, “the new team lines haven’t stopped you from talking with Puffball.”

Fries’ container may’ve been red already, but anyone could’ve seen he was blushing. “T-that’s different!” he stuttered, “she’s...relaying information about her new team to me. To give us the upper hand.” Nobody looked like they believed him.

“So, why’d you and Clock call us here, anyway?” Tree asked, very much prepared to take off the moment he got the chance.

Clock grinned, happy to finally get to the point. “Fries and I have been talking, and we both agreed it’d be best for us to elect a team leader!” he beamed.

“A team leader?” Ice Cube parroted back. A leader reminded her of the alliance, which reminded her of Book, which she did not appreciate.

Fries nodded, “The team needs structure, and a team leader would give us exactly that, so would anybody like to volunteer?”

He was answered with silence. Fries sighed; he’d been expecting this. He’d told Clock his fears, but his armless companion had insisted on going through with the plan anyway. The main issue is that neither Clock _nor_ Fries wanted to be leaders, they didn’t want that weight on their backs. Being the leader and then failing to properly lead the team meant you were responsible for the loss. The viewers paid attention to things like what while voting, and neither boy wanted to take the hit.

“No one? Really?” Clock groaned, sitting down in defeat. He and Fries shared a glance, but Pin was the only one who noticed. She could see from a mile away what the two were up to. She out of anyone knew the danger of declaring yourself the leader of a team, and she had no intention of making that mistake again.

"Why don't you do it, Fries?" Naily said smugly, "You already boss us around like you're the leader."

Fries put his hands on his hips, "I wouldn't be a good fit," he said, looking away from his team, "someone with a little more charisma should do it."

"A former member of Death P.A.C.T. should do it!" Beamed Bottle, "That way we can keep preventing death as a team!"

Clock grimaced, "Let me make something clear, the old teams are gone. There's no more Death P.A.C.T., no more Losers, no more Free Food, no more of any of those. We're just the Blue Team now, and it should be treated as such."

"Then _you_ be leader, Clock," Tree said, nudging Clock, "you want sooooo badly for this team to be different, then be the leader and _make_ it different."

"I elect Clock!” Coiny yelled out, wrapping his arm around his former teammate, “I think a cool head like him would make an excellent leader!”

Clock blanched. The plan had gone as wrong as wrong could be. “No! N-no, I don’t think tha-,”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Tennis Ball chirped, interrupting Clock. A symphony of agreement rang out throughout the group. Clock looked to Fries, who was suspiciously quiet during the impromptu inauguration. They exchanged another glance, a silent conversation taking place between the two.

_“Why are you just standing there!? Do something!”_

_“What do you want me to do? They might make me the leader.”_

_“You turncoat!”_

“Three cheers for Clock!” Bottle gushed, lifting Clock above her head as the rest of the team surrounded them. Clock was terrified, knowing now that the moment his team lost he’d most likely be the first scapegoat to eliminate. He looked to Fries, who awkwardly rubbed his arm. His eyes showed pity, and yet he stayed quiet as Pillow talked his ear off. Clock had a _really_ good idea of who he was going to elect as his assistant leader.

_If I’m going down then you’re going down with me!_

* * *

Winner wasn’t feeling good about his situation.

The only reason he’d wanted to join The Power of Two was so he could see _him_ again, and confront him about their past. He would finally gain closure, and what does he get instead?

He rejoins only to find out Loser went with Four to finish BFB.

Winner sat on a hillside watching some of the members of his team talk amongst each other. Remote, Basketball, and Grassy were riding on top of an enlarged Puffball as she drifted in circles high above the sky. Barf Bag was sitting with Rocky, seemingly trying to engage him in conversation (to no avail). Nobody on the Green Team was sure where Cake was, but Two would make sure he was back for the next challenge.

Winner was feeling like a real loser, and not in the way he wanted to.

“Why are you by yourself?” a voice asked from behind him, and even though he couldn’t see him, Winner knew who the monotone voice belonged to.

“What do you want?” Winner asked gruffly, turning to Black Hole. He wasn’t prepared for Pen to be with him.

“No need for hostility.” Black Hole said blankly. Winner did not enjoy being around Black Hole; the guy was unreadable! It didn’t help that he didn’t have a face, but the fact he always spoke in the same flat tone made it even more difficult.

Pen, however, was much easier to read.

“Yeah, what’s your problem?” he asked indignantly, tugging anxiously at his cap. Winner rolled his eyes. He only had to be around Pen for a day and could already tell he was the type to fake tough. He could blow smoke but would never actually act.

“Shouldn’t you guys be over with your team?” Winner murmured, ignoring Pen’s posturing.

“Well...like...you’re part of the team, aren’t you?” Black Hole questioned as if it were the most obvious thing on the planet. Winner frowned. Who did he think he was? Thinking that he _knew._ He didn’t know anything!

“I wouldn’t call it much of a team,” Winner scoffed and rolled his eyes, “I mean, didn’t you guys all groan when you found out I’d be joining your team?”

Pen and Black Hole didn’t have an answer to that, so Winner took the silence as an invitation to continue. “I don’t know any of you guys, and you don’t know me. What kind of team is that?”

Pen looked down at his feet, unhappy with how close to home Winner’s words hit. He’d never say it out loud, but he was having the same reservations with the Green Team. Even with familiar faces from Death P.A.C.T. he still felt lost, like he didn’t know his place on it.

“It will stay like that...if...you don’t try to make friends.” Black Hole drawled before floating down the hill toward the rest of his team, leaving Pen and Winner alone.

“He’s right, you know.”

“Says who?” Winner bit back, “You? You’re just as lost as I am, you’re just nicer about it.”

Winner got to his feet and started walking past Pen, “I had one purpose to join the game, and that purpose can’t be fulfilled. Don’t try and tell me what I need to do to feel better.” he said bitterly over his shoulder. Pen wanted to say something to the blue puff, but words failed him.

Maybe he was right. Why would it be his job to tell Winner to make friends? Who cared whether or not he enjoyed his time on the Green Team? Heck, best case scenario the team loses the next challenge then maybe the viewers would agree that Winner doesn’t belong. Pen knew it wasn’t right to think that, but Winner getting eliminated meant that he didn’t.

With a deep breath, Pen started down the hill after Black Hole. Winner may not want to get to know his team, but Pen was determined to not be like Winner.

_It could be worse, I guess…_

* * *

_It can’t get worse than this…_

Donut had spent the majority of yesterday and today feeling very sorry for himself. Talking about Snowball’s actions with him had bared no fruits. How can you convince someone what they did was wrong when they were convinced what they did was justified? Nickel hadn’t been upset, so Snowball took that as the go-ahead to not have to feel bad. Donut felt bad, he felt bad for Nickel. He felt bad for himself having to get stuck on a team with Snowball.

“Can you run the odds by me again?” he asked Robot Flower.

“Of Snowball being eliminated? One to ten.” RF said annoyed.

Donut sighed, staring down at his feet that were currently dunked in the little pond of the underground forest. It had been incinerated, but Two bringing back the wildlife luckily brought back Team Ice Cube’s little home away from home. Donut and the rest of Team Ice Cube originally agreed to keep the little nature sphere secret from the other teams, have it for themselves, but since he’d lost his original team (except Bomby) Donut saw no reason to keep the secret and welcomed the new Yellow Team.

Other than the little hiccup with Snowball, the Yellow Team wasn’t too bad for Donut. The team was made up of a bunch of solid team players. Marker was weird, but Foldy helped keep him in check well enough. The three armless contestants were nice, even if Nickel was a tad cynical.

He’d been a little wary about Robot Flower, but Donut had been pleasantly surprised to find that she was much more agreeable than the original Flower. Still a bit stubborn, but thousand times more tolerable.

_Now if only Snowball could learn to be the same way…_

“HE. WILL. PROBABLY. BE ELIMINATED.” TV jumbled, leaning against a tree near the pond where Donut and Robot Flower were sitting.

“Hopefully.” Donut concurred. TV wasn’t concerned. The jerk always got eliminated, that’s how the viewers thought. That’s why he always kept in the back with his head down (that and it was hard for him to speak properly). The viewers hated the jerk and adored the kind underdog. Snowball didn’t stand a chance at elimination.

“It could end up being Bomby,” Robot Flower stated, her petals lighting up randomly.

Donut groaned and put his head in his hands, “I’d feel terrible if it was Bomby. It’s not his fault Blue Team threw Naily at us!” he fumed.

“Statistically the viewers don’t care about that,” RF said, her yellow lens blinking, “they want to get rid of the mean people or the people that cause a team to lose.”

“But it wasn’t his-,” before Donut could finish his sentence he and his two mechanical companions were teleported to above ground.

“Fault,” Donut said lamely, now completely disoriented. Two enjoyed abusing their powers of teleporting people far more than Four ever did. Donut decided to keep a mental note of that fact.

It was indeed Two that had teleported them, as they stood proudly over a grassy knoll. Donut looked to his left and right and saw the rest of his team had been transported here as well. Donut turned behind him and saw a little blip in the distance and figured that that was most likely the bathrooms. Two had taken them pretty far out of the way.

“Welcome Yellow Team!” Two greeted cheerfully, a great difference compared to either sullen or annoyed faces of the Yellow Team.

“Why’d you take us so far out?” Foldy asked, confusion evident in her voice. She was staring back at the bathrooms.

“Because _my_ eliminations are done a little differently!” Two shut his eyes, very proud of themselves.

“But we had a perfectly good Cake at Stake area. Why change it?” questioned Donut, unsure of the numbers intentions.

“Because I don’t do Cake at Stake! That was Four, but I’m Two!” they said proudly, pointing at themselves.

“Okay,” Snowball said cautiously, “What do you do for elimination?”

Snowball immediately got his answer as Two snapped their fingers, causing white metal platforms to pop up underneath each of the members.

Two wasn't done yet. They lifted off the ground, their hands in the air. Behind then arose a large theater stage, red velvet curtains, and all.

Two landed gently onto the wooden planks of the stage, their arms wide as if awaiting a hug.

"Welcome to Trophy Case!"

"Trophy Case?" Eggy parroted, unsure if she heard them right.

Two just nodded and smiled, "Trophy Case! This is how I'll be handling eliminations!"

“That stage is soooo cool!” Marker gawked, getting down from his platform and approaching the stage. Before he could hop onto it, however, he was forcefully pushed back onto his platform by Two.

Donut found it scary that Two didn’t move while doing it. They didn’t even flinch.

“Woah! Slow down there, Marker,” Two warned, “you only end up on the stage when you’re eliminated.”

“So, why is it called “Trophy Case”,” Foldy wondered, still hung up on how far away Two had set up the new elimination area.

Two chuckled, “You’ll see.” he said calmly. Nobody liked their tone, so nobody decided to push them on it.

“Can we just get this over with already?” Nickel said impatiently, not wanting to drag the elimination longer than it had to.

“Yes, we can Nickel,” Two smirked, “in fact, we’ll start with you and Donut. You’re both safe with nineteen votes each out of the three hundred sixty-nine votes that we received.”

“Well, that’s good at least,” Nickel exhaled, happy to have that weight off his chest, but then he realized something, “but aren’t we supposed to get a prize or something for surviving?”

“Your prize is that you don’t get eliminated.” Two said gruffly. Donut sat down on his platform, a smile on his face, “Good enough for me.” he hummed.

“Well, not me!” Snowball shouted, stomping his foot, “we deserve something! We always got cake when we were with-”

“Gaty is safe with twenty-two votes!” Two yelled, cutting off whatever rude remark Snowball had planned.

“That’s...not too bad actually.” Gaty said, sounding relieved, “I was expecting a way higher number.”

“Foldy and Marker. You each got twenty-five and twenty-nine votes respectively.” Two said, gesturing to the pair of friends who now looked a lot calmer than a few moments ago.

“TV and Robot Flower,” Two continued, “you both are the next ones safe with thirty-four votes and thirty-seven votes each.”

Robot Flower nodded in recognition, and TV played a stock confetti sound effect and flashed some firework footage on his screen. Only three members of the Yellow Team had yet to be told they were safe: Snowball, Eggy, and Bomby. The ladder didn’t seem nervous, his arms folded and his foot tapping impatiently. The other two looked a lot more scared.

“How can I be in the bottom three!?” Eggy howled dramatically. Bomby was anxious hopping from one foot to the other, yanking at his fuse like he could tear it off.

“That’s a good question,” Gaty whispered to herself. She was doing her best to rack her brain for a reason as to why Eggy would receive so many votes, but she was coming up blank. Gaty didn’t know Eggy very well, they weren’t exactly close when they were trapped in the TLC together. However, to her knowledge, the polka-dotted egg wasn’t mean or rude, so why the high amount of votes? 

“The person with the third-highest amount of votes is…” Two said, pausing for dramatic effect, “...BOMBY! You’re safe with fifty-two votes!”

“Yes!” Bomby squealed, leaping to his feet. Snowball quirked an eyebrow, “Seriously? He was the reason we lost the challenge.”

“It was his fault. Naily caused him to blow up.” Donut defended. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to listen to Snowball much longer.

“I don’t understand. Why do I have so many votes?” Eggy, sniveled, looking close to tears. Her team looked away from her with a mix of sympathy and awkwardness.

“It’s down to the two of you,” Two said giddily, “Snowball and Eggy. One of YOU will be the first eliminated from The Power of Two!” the number sounded like he could burst from the excitement.

Eggy bit her lip almost enough to crack her shell. She could barely handle the tension without passing out. Snowball looked unfazed.

“And that person eliminated…” Two said, purposefully slowing down his words, doing his best to squeeze as much suspense out of the moment as possible.

“Is EGGY with sixty-eight votes! Snowball is safe with sixty-four votes!” Two shouted out happily.

“WHAT!” Eggy, Nickel, Gaty, and Donut all yelled at the same time.

“It’s about time!” Snowball said a little louder than he’d intended to. Seems like he was a bit more nervous about being eliminated then he let on.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” a panicked Donut called. The majority of the team was in an uproar. Everyone except Snowball, Robot Flower, and TV were voicing their complaints to an already annoyed Two, who was covering their ears in an attempt to block out the sudden noise.

“How is that possible?”

“Can we get a recount?”

“How can I be eliminated!?”

“Okay, enough of that,” Two huffed. Without a second thought, they pointed a finger gun at Egggy and “fired”. Out of the tip of Two’s finger, a blinding white light shot out and struck Eggy directly in the middle of her chest. The rest of the team had to turn away from the light. Eggy screamed in pain as the light grew more intense.

“What’re you doing to her!?” Gaty shrieked, terrified as she watched Eggy stop squirming under the pressure of the beam.

“I’m...eliminating her,” Two strained, a bead of sweat making its way down their forehead.

“STOP!” Donut yelled again, his voice cracking from the screaming he’d been doing, “YOU’RE HURTING HER!”

“Almost…,” Two pushed forward, leaning slightly off the stage and more into the flow of the beam, “done!” they suddenly called out, and just like that Two leaned back and the light was gone.

The Yellow Team looked over at the horror that Two had caused. Eggy was still there; not cracked or anything of the sort, but she wasn’t...herself anymore. Standing where she once was was a perfect stone replica of her. The statue stood on a stone pedestal with a small gold plaque on it. Eggy’s face was frozen in a mixture of terror and pain like she’d seen her life flash before her eyes and felt everything.

“Wh-what...did you,” Nickel hesitated, moving a little closer to the Eggy statue. He was at a loss for words, but Robot Flower found them for him.

“What did you do to her!?” she screamed, her petals blinking sporadically. Her movements were stilted, but she moved to the statue as fast as she could.

Two folded their arms, a smug smile on their face, “I eliminated her.”

“How is this an elimination!” an angry Donut asked. Nickel leaned down close to the statue’s plaque and read what it said.

_~Eggy~_

_40th Place_

“Trophy Case…” Nickel said to himself, but Two could still hear him.

“You figured it out, Nickel!” Two said, quickly moving from the stage to Nickel’s side and wrapping an arm around him. “I’ve frozen Eggy here in stone and will be adding her to my trophy case that will remain on display here on this stage!”

With a snap of Two’s fingers, Eggy lifted into the air and was placed into the first slot of a large glass collectors case that had materialized onto the stage.

“Is she...you know,” Gaty hesitated, “okay?”

“Hm?” Two turned to the gate before smiling, “oh yeah, she’s alright. When I turn her back to normal she won’t even think a second has passed.”

Gaty wasn’t too sure how much she believed that, but she also wasn’t in a position to question it. She turned to see Nickel sulking.

“So much for that armless alliance,” Nickel sighed. Gaty walked up to Nickel, a sympathetic smile on her face.

“Hey, it’s alright,” she said, “we can still be the alliance. Keep it alive for Eggy.”

Nickel scoffed, “An alliance of only two people isn’t much of an alliance, Gaty.”

Gaty was unsure of what to say before her face morphed into a sly grin. “That may be, but we aren’t the only armless ones on this team.” She shot a side glance over to Foldy, who was sitting with Marker.

Before Nickel could answer, the sound of Two snapping once again filled the field, and the group (along with Two) were teleported away, leaving Eggy and the stage behind.

* * *

“So, who do you think’ll be eliminated?” Barf Bag asked the large group waiting by the bathrooms. Two had called the three safe teams together for the next challenge and told them to wait while they did the elimination.

“It will obviously be Snowball,” Golf Ball said confidently, “an oaf like him doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Nah,” Eraser spoke up from her left, “SB’s awesome. No way he’s out first.”

“Who else would it be then?” Cake questioned.

“Oh geez, I hope it’s not Snowball.” Lightning said worriedly. Snowball was the only person he was close to when he was still on Iance, and he’d hate to see him be the first out of TPOT.

Coiny fervently nodded, “Agreed, Lightning. SB’s ma boy, it’d suck if he was kicked out.”

Golf Ball went red in the face, “How could so many people like that pea-brained idiot!?” she shouted indignantly.

“Will you relax?” Bell hissed, “Why do you care so much anyway?”

“Those two have a pretty rough history.” Needle whispered to Bell, causing the instrument to stop talking. Needle was just as annoyed as everyone else, but she’d been there during the original BFDI with Snowball and Golf Ball, and those two _hated_ each other. So, she wanted no business in their decade long feud.

“It could be any one of them,” Pillow piped up, “the viewers can be very fickle.” She wasn’t wrong either. Leaving their fates up to those watching them was a risky wager to make, but they all accepted it when they decided to compete. Everyone just wished it wasn’t so easy for them to flip flop. Usually, one wrong move and it was over a thousand votes and you were gone.

The round table conversation the contestants were having was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Two and the Yellow Team in the middle of the three other teams.

“Hello everyone!” Two greeted and gestured to the Yellow Team, “Everybody say hello to the new Yellow Team!”

The other scanned over the new team of nine and it only took a few moments before people realized who got the boot.

“Oh no, Eggy.” Pin gasped, covering her mouth. The other former Losers looked forlorn at the loss of their former teammate. Even Clock seemed upset at Eggy’s early elimination, even if it was only a little bit.

The only one who didn’t seem to care was Cake.

“I’m sorry about your old teammate, Cake,” Basketball said with a sad smile. She empathized with a friend getting eliminated. She’d been pretty beaten up after 8-Ball had been voted out. She hoped he was doing alright, wherever Four had taken him.

“Yes! Grassy is sorry too!” Grassy said with a little too much cheerfulness in his voice. Basketball knew that Grassy meant well by saying that, but the boy almost always said everything with the same excited tone. Cake’s response wasn’t what either of them expected.

"It's whatever. It doesn't really matter."

If he was being completely honest with himself, he couldn’t’ve cared less that Eggy had been eliminated. He didn’t care about any of the former members of The Losers. His opinion on Eggy’s elimination was neutral.

“Alright, everybody!” Two said, clapping their hands together, “it’s time for the second challenge of The Power of Two!”

“And what _is_ the challenge?” Eraser asked impatiently.

“I am very happy that you asked!” Two said with a beaming smile. “I think you guys will really like this one!”

Two clapped their hands and the next thing the four teams knew they were teleported away from the bathrooms and were now in a completely foreign environment.

The teams had been separated into four large rooms with tall white walls and no ceiling. The sun beat down on the confused teams as they stared down at their feet. They were still standing on the grass of the plains so Two hadn’t taken them too far away.

“Oh, where are we now?” Book asked, sounding exasperated. The answer to her question came through the sound of Two’s booming voice.

“Here’s how this challenge is going to work!” Everyone could hear them, but nobody could see where they were. “A member of an opposing team will be placed in the box with you and they’ll be in a mech! It’ll be their job to try and pick you guys up and place you in a bin that will be placed in there with them! There are two ways to lose this challenge! Those being either all of your team gets put in the bin, or if your teammate in the mech gets taken out by the team they’re fighting!”

A confusing explanation? Very much so, yes. The contestants all had a feeling in their guts telling them that they’d learn on the fly how this would work.

“Without waiting any longer...let’s begin!” Two shouted out.

The Red Team stepped back as a blinding light filled the box and then dissipated as fast as it appeared. In front of them stood a mech suit that dwarfed all of them. It was bronze in color and stood on two legs with two arms by its sides. Instead of hands their claw-esque contraptions at the end. In place of a head, there was a wide glass dome that was hollow inside, as if it were a control room. Behind the machine was a large grey metal bucket.

“Who do you think is in there?” Pie said quizzically, not seeming fazed by the sudden appearance of the mech.

Golf Ball squinted, “I’d recognize that shade of orange anywhere.” she said annoyed, knowing exactly who was inside.

“We got Coiny.” she sighed as if resigning herself to her fate.

The mech began lumbering towards them.

* * *

“Everyone, scatter!” it may have been Clock that yelled, but it may have also been Tennis Ball. The Blue Team lept out of the way as the turquoise-colored mech brought its foot down where they were originally standing. They weren’t sure who was in the mech yet since they couldn’t see into the control room. Fries, Clock, Pillow, and Bottle dived to the left, and Pin, Tree, Naily, Tennis Ball, and Ice Cube dived to the right.

“What do we do, Clock!?” Tree yelled from one side of the metal foot. The mech began reaching down and managed to grab Pin in its clawed grasp.

Clock was panicked, they couldn’t afford to lose somebody this quickly into the challenge. He clenched his eyes shut and quickly racked his brain for an idea, and he found one! He wasn’t too sure how good it was but it was all they had at the moment.

Clock hopped up on Fries’ back and snagged one of his fries in between his teeth. Before Fries could object Clock had already hopped off of him and ran to the other side of the mech where Pin was being picked up. With as much force as he could muster, he swung himself at Pin and used the fry like a bat, knocking her free from the mechs grasp.

“What’s the big idea!?” Fries demanded indignantly, digging his heels into the dirt.

Clock spit out the fry, “I figured your fries were stale! Thank goodness they were! Good teamwork, assistant leader!”

“Assistent...what?” Fries went from angry to confused in an instant. Bottle gasped happily.

“Fries, you’re the assistant leader? That’s a great idea!” she said with excitement. Fries wanted nothing more than to deny the assumption, but he didn’t get the chance as the foot of the mech suddenly came down on top of Bottle, crushing her.

“Does that count?” whoever was in the mech spoke out through an intercom built into it. Fries immediately recognized the voice as Foldy’s.

“Yeah, I’ll count that, but you’re supposed to put them in the bin.” Two’s voice answered back.

“Good to know,” Foldy said deviously. The mech dropped to one knee and swept its arm across the ground. Pin, Tree, Clock, and Naily dodged the arm, but Tennis Ball and Ice Cube weren’t so lucky. They were flung to the side, Ice Cube sliding and TB rolling into the right wall of the room.

The clawed hand, instead of slapping them, quickly grabbed ahold of both Fries and Pillow. They struggled in vain to escape the hold as the mech stood up straight. The claw hand dangled Pillow and Fries precariously in front of the glass dome, bringing the two former Free Food members face to face.

“Why, hello there, Fries,” Foldy said slyly.

Fries put his hands over his face, “Oh my tater.” he said, very defeated.

* * *

“I guess Foldy got put in the mech,” Marker lamented, poking at the dirt.

“Now isn’t the time, Marker!” Nickel shouted in a panic and the mech they got stuck with reached out for the writing utensil. Luckily Robot Flower was quick to act and yanked Marker away in time as the claw caught nothing but grass and dirt.

The mech the Yellow Team was stuck with was a deep black with white around the joints. It also had button-like patterns on its chest similar to the button layout Remote had, making it pretty obvious who was inside of it.

Instead of picking up the hand, Remote’s mech scraped through the ground and grabbed Donut instead. With one swift movement, the mech picked itself up and swung around and threw Donut perfectly across the room and into the bin intended for contestants. He screamed the whole way.

“Whelp,” Nickel huffed, “there goes our de facto leader. We’re doomed,” he said cynically.

“Don’t give up yet!” Gaty called out from the other side of the room, dodging the incoming foot of the mech. She helped push TV to one of the back corners of the room. TV was slow and lumbering, it would’ve been easy for the mech to grab him, so Gaty thought it best to sit him aside where Remote wouldn’t focus on him.

“Yeah, Nickel,” Bomby said by the coin’s side, “it isn’t over until we’re all in the bin!”

“Hold still,” Remote’s unique voice rang out through the speaker in the mech. She was aiming for Robot Flower, but she’d missed again as the mechanical mimic jumped to the left. For as jittery and as stilted as Robot Flower’s movements were, she was surprisingly fast.

Gaty’s head whipped around, trying to get her barings properly. Remote’s mech slapped Marker and Nickel aside as she went to grab Bomby. Bomby was lucky enough to dive out of the way before Remote came down on him.

“What to do...what to do?” Gaty asked herself, trying to come up with a plan.

“Snowball.” the familiar voice of Golf Ball spoke up from behind her, but that made no sense. Golf Ball was on the Red Team, wasn’t she? Gaty turned around and saw the source of the voice. It was TV, playing a clip of GB on her screen.

“Snowball.” the GB clip repeated. Gaty raised an eyebrow at the television. “What about Snowball?”

“SNOWBALL. LOOK.” TV clipped together, this time much more frantic with the clips he used.

“Wha…?” Gaty was confused but turned around anyway, and she saw what TV wanted her to see. Snowball was standing completely still, looking up at the mech with an unwavering gaze.

“Snowball, what’re you doing!?” Gaty shouted, trying to get his attention. It worked, Snowball turned to briefly look at Gaty before turning back to face the mech that was honed in focused on catching Robot Flower.

“What...is he doing?” Gaty tilted her head, even more, confused than before.

“I. THINK. HE’S. WAITING.” TV patched together, trying to reason what the ball was up to. That answer only left Gaty more perplexed. She didn’t know Snowball very well, but she never knew him to be the type to wait.

So, she sat with TV and watched Snowball watch the mech.

* * *

“That color is _not_ subtle in the slightest.” Puffball said flatly.

“Yeah, that’s pretty obvious who that is.” Cake responded.

The two weren’t kidding. The mech in the room with them was pink. The only pink contestant other than Puffball was Eraser, and it obviously wasn’t Puffball in the mech.

“Maybe your friend will throw the challenge for us?” Barf Bag elbowed Pen. She was saying it half jokingly, half actually wanting Pen to give it a shot. Pen though had no intention of trying to get Eraser to throw it for them. The last thing he wanted was to get his buddy in trouble with the viewers.

The mech was moving slowly, even slower than anyone was expecting the mech to move. Pen rolled his eyes. Leave it to Eraser to find a way to be lazy even in a giant metal robot.

“Look out! Left foot!” Basketball screamed, backing away as the foot she warned about slammed into the Earth.

Surprisingly enough it was Winner who acted first. He extended his puffy arm from his head and grabbed a hold of Rocky, who had been sitting still, ignorant of the danger he was in.

“What’re you doing?” Barf Bag questioned as Winner ran up to the mech's foot with Rocky above his head. The puff started shaking Rocky like he was a mixed drink, as fast as he could. Winner’s plan worked, as Rocky let out his signature “BULLEH!” and spewed chunks onto the foot of the mech. An acidic smell and a sizzling sound filled the air as the Green Team stood dumbfounded watching the puke melt through the metal.

“Quick thinking,” Black Hole complimented. The compliment was genuine despite Black Hole’s diction. He wasn’t the only one impressed.

“I’m...astounded that worked.” A shocked Cake proclaimed. Basketball and Pen nodded in agreement.

Eraser’s mech couldn’t compensate for the sudden weight shift and was forced to take a knee. The Green Team wasn’t expecting the sudden flash of movement as it grabbed onto Winner, who was still holding onto Rocky. The two of them were quickly tossed over the mech’s shoulder and right into the bin.

“Well, that didn’t last.” Cake deadpanned.

“He gave us something to work with,” Pen said firmly, “let’s not waste it.”

* * *

“I told you I won’t listen to you!”

“I AM TRYING TO HELP! IGNORING ME IS A BAD IDEA!”

“Is now _really_ the time, you two!?” Book yelled down at Fanny and Golf Ball as Coiny’s mech picked her up. Coiny was shockingly good at this, he’d already tossed Pie into the bin (not that it was difficult).

“I will stop when Fanny starts listening to reason!” Golf Ball barked, not listening to Book’s reasoning. The dictionary managed to get out a strangled grumble before Coiny spun around and tossed her into the bin.

The remaining members of the Red Team were getting quite sick of the back and forth bickering. Lighting was the only one who’d been making any real attempt at bringing down the mech, zapping at the joint trying to short circuit them, though to no avail. Saw had tried sawing at the foot, but the metal was tougher than expected.

“I’m not the bad guy for not accepting you as the leader!” Fanny yelled back, now forehead to forehead. Fanny’s eye was twitching, she was so mad. Everyone had seen Fanny angry, she always woke up already at a low boil, but this was the most aggressive anyone had seen her. She’d made it extremely clear she wasn’t about to kowtow to Golf Ball’s demands. It was a miracle that nobody else on the team had snapped yet. Needle and Bell felt themselves getting close.

But nobody expected it to be Cloudy.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Cloudy roared, managing to get his voice over the shouting match between GB and Fanny. “Nobody is asking you to be best friends, but you need to get along during challenges!”

Golf Ball and Fanny were shocked into silence, unprepared to have the quiet Cloudy of all people lose it on them.

Cloudy went from the puffy white to a more wispy dark grey color. A low thunder sound rumbled from within him, and there were quick and bright yellow flashes crackling beneath him. Lighting recognized it immediately, for obvious reasons. Everyone was shocked, Cloudy didn’t get angry. Not like this.

“I don’t want to hear it anymore, and now I’m gonna finish the challenge!” Cloudy turned around and faced Saw, “Saw! Cut Bell down!”

Saw was so shocked by Cloudy’s forcefulness that she just did what he said without thinking. She lept up and used the teeth of her blade to cut Bell’s string, sending her to the ground. Cloudy shot over to Bell’s side, his anger now replaced with an apologetic look.

“I apologize in advance.”

“Apologize for whaaaaAAAAH!”

Bell was interrupted by the strange sensation of Cloudy biting down on the remaining piece of string that was still attached to her. With as much strength he had in his tiny body, Cloudy lifted Bell off of the ground. It started slow. Cloudy started circling in the air, Bell moving with him. Before anyone could say anything Cloudy was like an Olympic hammer thrower, Bell being the hammer.

Just as Bell started picking up some serious speed, Coudy let her go, sending her flying up toward Coiny’s mech. She screamed the whole time as she sored upward and collided with the glass dome.

Coiny shrieked a rather unmanly shriek as Bell crashed through the glass and landed in the control room.

“Hi, Coiny,” Bell said politely, quite shaken from being thrown through a windshield.

“I...I don’t think that’s how y-you’re supposed to do the challenge,” Coiny fretted nervously. He started pressing random buttons and pulling on random switches on the control panel in front of him.

“That is a valid strategy!” Two’s muffled voice was heard from inside the mech. Coiny’s button pressing and switch pulling became more frantic. He was unsure of how to remove Bell from the control room.

“For the Red Team!” Was what Coiny heard. He wasn’t paying attention to what Bell was doing, which was his biggest mistake. She’d leaned forward, tipped herself over on top of him, and bit down hard on his right hand.

And so an epic battle began.

* * *

The Blue Team watched helplessly as Foldy’s mech threw Fries and Pillow into the bin.

“So, you have any other ideas, Clock?” Tree asked blankly. Clock didn’t respond, he didn’t have any other ideas.

“I’m...uh...open to other sharing ideas.” Clock said, unsure of how to proceed. He looked at all his teammates. Tree looked bored like he always did, Ice Cube was shaking, her eyes trained on every one of the mech’s movements. Naily was trying to stay tough, but the wiggle in her knees betrayed her. Pin and Tennis Ball both seemed to be in deep thought.

“You two look like you have an idea,” Clock called out to the two original BFDI contestants.

TB and Pin shared a glance before turning to the elected leader. “We do,” Tennis Ball said slowly, “but it involves Naily.”

Naily sighed, “Why does it always involve me?”

Pin put her arm out, stopping Tennis Ball, “Well, it doesn’t necessarily have to be Naily. I could also do it.”

“And what is “it” exactly?” Tree folded his arms, not sounding confident in whatever the two were planning.

The team was broken from their conversation by the lumbering form of the mech approaching. It speedily took a knee and reached out for the Blue Team, more specifically Pin since she was the closest one to it. She easily dodged the hand and then immediately put her plan into action. She lunged forward and stuck her metal tip into the opening where the mech’s hand connected to the arm. Electric sparks flew from the joint as Pin jostled around, cutting wires and pricking circuits. She pulled out as Foldy’s mech stood up, but the hand to the mech didn’t come with. Pin had done enough damage to sever the hand from the body.

Her team stood in awe as the mech stumbled backward. The only one not aghast was Tennis Ball, who was smiling proudly.

* * *

Nickel and Marker ran to the back left corner of the room, Remote’s mech hot on their trail. They’d been doing a fairly good job at avoiding the mech. A lot of dodging and ducking and weaving around its legs had been working so far. Nickel had already come to terms with the only way the Yellow Team was going to be safe this round was by running out the clock and waiting for one of the other teams to slip up.

“Oh, why’d she follow us?” Nickel bemoaned, now backed into the corner. Marker was clinging to him like he’d die if he let go. Nickel ran the numbers in his head. Remote had already eliminated Donut and when she grabbed Marker and himself there’d only been five left because Foldy was selected to be in a mech.

The mech got to its knees and braced itself against the wall with one of its arms. It reached down for the two of them and they shut their eyes, awaiting the cold metal claw to encase them in its vice grip.

But the claw never came.

Nickel slowly opened his eyes, and then they shot open wide when he saw why the claw hadn’t grabbed them.

Snowball was holding the claw back with his hands. He was pushed back by the force of the mech, but Snowball had planted his feet and had no intention of moving.

“Snowball?” Nicked asked dumbly, his fear now replaced with surprise. Snowball didn’t respond with words, but instead with a grunt as he strained himself to keep the claw off the other two boys. His heels pushed into the dirt as he grunted.

He managed to turn his head back toward the two and shot them a cocky grin. “You ready to help me win the challenge, pocket change?” he said through gritted teeth.

“What?” both Marker and Nickel asked at the same time. Snowball did the unthinkable and released his hold on the claw and jumped onto the top of it. With Snowball no longer pushing against the force of it, the mech’s claw lurched forward and dug deep into the dirt. It stopped mere inches from Nickel and Marker.

Marker stepped over the claw, and Nickel was about to do the same before Snowball grabbed a hold of him. He was beginning to get flashbacks.

Snowball tucked Nickel under his arm and started moving up the length of the mech’s arm. It was pulling and tugging, but it had embedded itself into the ground. Its right arm tried to come down on the two Yellow Team members, but Snowball was two fast. Before Remote had time to react Snowball, with Nickel in tow, had reached the glass dome that led into the control room. Remote looked afraid as Snowball smiled cruelly at her.

“Sorry, Nickel,” SB whispered, sounding genuinely apologetic. Nickel was surprised, he’d never heard Snowball sound so...honest; so vulnerable. It was almost like he was feeling an actual emotion for a moment.

That moment ended almost immediately as Snowball cocked back and sent Nickel through the glass windshield, shattering it completely. He rolled onto his side into the control room and clanked to the ground, not getting up after.

Snowball hopped into the control room and stood before Remote.

Remote gulped, a suddenly bad feeling had made its way deep into her stomach.

* * *

Eraser wasn’t having a good day.

First, he got sucked into an argument between Golf Ball and Fanny. He hated arguing, it was so emotionally draining. How the two girls found the energy to do it so often he’d probably never understand. Eraser never did well with emotions, he hated...feeling. It was always too much work to get invested in things. Eraser had few things he cared about. One of those things was himself. You always had to look out for number one in his eyes.

The only other thing he cared about was his friends.

Eraser loved looking cool, and he didn’t want to hangout with people he didn’t think were cool. Pen, Blocky, and Snowball were cool; easy to hangout with. Everyone always else usually had some kind of chip on their shoulder.

The original BFDI was the hardest to deal with. That season was filled with a bunch of bossy snobs that never failed to give Eraser a headache. Pin, Golf Ball, Flower, Match, and Pencil, he could go on. And when people weren’t being bossy, they were being just generally annoying. Woody and Spongy in particular would always get to him the most. BFB was better, but not by much.

And now here he was in TPOT…

“He’s down! We can do this! Keep going!”

A whole lot of the same…

After Winner used Rocky to take out his mech’s foot, the entire challenge started going downhill. Black Hole was using his gravitational pull to yank panels off the machine, and Puffbull carried Pen and Basketball up to the glass dome and the two were attempting to break the glass. It hadn’t been entirely bad, however. Along with Winner and Rocky, he’d also eliminated Grassy and Cake from his kneeling position. There were only five left to take care of. He wasn’t sure how he was going to deal with Black Hole, but he’d figure it out when he got there.

“Give up, Eraser!” Pen yelled at him through the glass as he banged on it with his fist. Eraser ignored him, instead opting to bring the clawed hand of the mech down on Barf Bag, who’d been tearing at wires in the damaged foot.

“I have an idea,” Eraser heard Basketball say, but he didn’t hear her actual idea as Puffball suddenly moved away from the mech and flew high into the air above it.

“Heh. Must’ve gotten the hint.” Eraser said to himself as he nonchalantly tossed Barf Bag into the bin.

“Okay, now to go for...Puffball?” Eraser went from confident to vexed in a nanosecond. The pink puff was sorening downward and coming in for a head on collision with the glass dome.

Eraser pushed himself against the backwall of the room as Puffball stopped a foot or so away from the glass, sending Basketball and Pen careening into the glass and breaking it.

“It’s over Eraser!” Basketball mumbled, picking herself up from her fall. Pen did the same but instantly rushed for his best friend.

Eraser braised himself for Pen’s attack, but the attack never came. Instead, Two’s voice boomed loudly.

“WE HAVE A WINNER! THE CHALLENGE IS OVER!”

“Wait. What?” The three objects in the control room asked at the same time. Before they could react the mech they were standing in disappeared into thin air. All three of them plummeted to the grass below, completely gobsmacked.

The walls that kept all four of the teams enclosed sank back into the dirt. Pen whipped his head around and saw that the other mechs were gone as well, and so were the bins holding the eliminated contestants.

“What happened? Did we win?” Puffball asked, floating down to her team. Two popped up next to her, spooking her.

“Nope. Your team actually are the ones that lost!” Two said, smiling.

“WHAT!?” The entire Yellow Team shouted at once. Eraser fell back, exhausted but relieved.

“That makes no sense!” Pen said frantically, “we weren’t all eliminated yet!”

“True,” a voice not on the Green Team called, “but the _important_ one got taken out.”

Marching over was Snowball, Remote proudly held in his arms. The appliance looked very disappointed in herself.

“Here’s your teammate back,” he said in a bored manner, tossing Remote back over to her team, “she wasn’t much competition, but she was fine.”

“Uh,” Donut grumbled, rubbing his head, “the bin was dark. Did we lose?”

“The opposite!” Robot Flower cheered, actually sounding excited, “not only did we not win, but we’re the ones who caused the losers to lose!”

“We did?” Donut said, surprised.

RF nodded, “We did. It was all thanks to Snowball. He got Remote out of the mech!”

“Snowball?” Donut asked, now even more surprised. He turned to the rest of his team as they gathered around him. Gaty was going off about the stunt that Snowball pulled, and Nickel was stumbling his way over, still dazed from his part in SB’s plan. TV was playing a celebratory jingle from his speakers, and Marker and Bomby embraced each other.

Donut wasn’t concerned with that, however. He was more concerned with watching Snowball. The ball smacked his hands against each other, getting the dust off of them. Donut was impressed. He’d assumed that Snowball wouldn’t care to participate, but he thought back on the first challenge that the Yellow Team had lost. Snowball’s plan to win had been cruel, yes, but it was still a plan to win. That was more than the rest of his team did. Snowball was one to keep a close eye on.

“Did...did we win?” Bell asked groggily from her spot on the ground. She had flattened Coiny after the mech disappeared.

“I mean...technically?” Lightning unsurely said, sitting Bell up and getting her off of Coiny.

“That was a really good plan, Cloudy,” Saw said, praising her floating teammate, “a few more seconds and Bell would’ve taken out Coiny.”

Cloudy gave Saw a tired smile, “I’m just happy that we aren’t up for elimination.”

“I must give you credit, Cloudy,” Golf Ball said with a sigh, “that was a very good plan. Aggressive, maybe, but it was working.”

Cloudy frowned, “Yeah, sorry, Bell. I should’ve asked before going through with the plan.”

“It’s...fine, Cloudy,” Bell said, stars in her eyes. Cloudy felt bad for forcing Bell into his plan, but she seemed...fine.

“You know what?” GB said, a small smile forming on her face, “I think I may have a solution to our earlier leader conundrum.”

“You were the only one who cared about that.” Needle said quickly, not wanting another argument to break out.

GB shook her head, “No, I’m not going to say what you think. Fanny’s main issue was she did not want _me_ to be the leader, but I’d like to elect Cloudy as our leader!”

The Red Team started whispering to each other. Fanny eyed Golf Ball warrily. That was fine. Golf Ball didn’t need Fanny to trust her. She needed Fanny to trust Cloudy.

“I don’t know, Golf Ball,” Cloudy said, unsure, “I don’t think I’m exactly leader material.”

“That’s exactly it, Cloudy!” GB said excitedly, “People don’t want me to lead because I’m too...abrasive. But the team likes you enough; they’ll listen to you!”

“I think that’s a great idea!” Saw said happily. Pie and Lighting nodded in agreement.

“I would not object to Cloudy being team leader.” Fanny said gruffly, “at least it’s not Golf Ball.”

Cloudy was silent before he gave his team an uneasy smile, “A-alright. I’ll be team leader.”

Golf Ball gave the cloud a warm smile, but on the inside, she was having a difficult time containing her excitement. Her plan had gone off without a hitch!

She wasn’t naive, she knew that her team didn’t like her and that taking control would be hard. She usually had Tennis Ball, her friendlier counterpart, to vouch for her and take her side on things, but she wasn’t granted such a privilege this time. Fanny was her biggest detractor, however, even more then she’d been prepared for. Fanny didn’t like anything, but she _really_ didn’t like Golf Ball. So, GB would have to work twice as hard if she was going to gain control of the Red Team.

That’s where Cloudy came in. It was like a gift from the heavens that he snapped and came up with a plan to defeat Coiny. GB had suspected that it’d be Needle to step up and take charge, but she was ecstatic that it was Cloudy. Needle was no schmuck, and she was used to Golf Ball and how she operated; Cloudy wasn’t. She’d have to use a genteler touch then she was used to, but with enough work, she could use him as a mouthpiece for her ideas. People hated listening to her, but if her ideas were coming from someone else then that was a completely different story.

She’d found her patsy.

* * *

**“The Green Team lost, so they’re up for elimination! Use the link below this message to vote who you want to be eliminated! Voting will end on October 14th!”**

**(VOTING FOR THIS EPISODE IS NOW OVER)**

  
  
  


**https://www.poll-maker.com/poll3144555x06eFF5d3-97**

* * *

**Teams**

**Red Team:** Book, Golf Ball, Eraser, Bell, Fanny, Saw, Lightning, Needle, Cloudy, Pie

 **Blue Team** : Pin, Tree, Pillow, Fries, Coiny, Clock, Bottle, Naily, Tennis Ball, Ice Cube

 **Yellow Team** : Donut, TV, Snowball, Robot Flower, Nickel, Foldy, Gaty, Marker, Bomby

 **Green Team** : Black Hole, Pen, Remote, Puffball, Winner, Grassy, Barf Bag, Cake, Rocky, Basketball

  
 **The Statues:** Eggy


	3. Episode : The Sledding Episode

“I should disassemble you.”

“And what would that solve?”

Fries and Clock had been at each other’s throats since the end of the mech challenge. Fries had felt...slighted by Clock assigning him as the assistant leader without talking to him first. It had taken Clock quite a bit of charisma to get Fries to _not_ kill him, and even with that he still wasn’t out of the fire. Fries was still extremely angry with him.

Fries sighed and leaned over the sink in the boy’s bathroom. He’d pulled Clock away from the rest of their team when the challenge had ended.

“You’re not entirely blameless yourself,” Clock shot back, “You left me high and dry! We agreed to have someone step forward as a team leader and the moment you get an out you leave me to become team leader!”

“Then why drag me down with you?” Fries turned back, pointing the finger.

“Because you being the assistant leader guarantees you’ll help me succeed,” Clock said, stepping back from Fries. Clock was a guy who found himself often intimidated, but Fries _was_ bigger than him, and he was extremely angry.

“What do you mean?” Fries asked, trying to keep his cool. Clock continued, “If you’re also considered partially the leader, then you’ll get partial blame for losses. That’ll push you to work harder so we don’t lose.”

That...was a smart plan. Fries couldn’t contest that. Clock’s assumption had been dead on. Now that he was stuck as the assistant leader he planned on sticking close by Clock’s side.

Clock shook his head, “I’m sorry, alright? I panicked when I got made leader.”

Fries sighed and went to the exit, “You better hope that this works out for us, Clock.”

With that, Fries left Clock in the bathroom. He had a lot to think about and wanted nothing more than to be alone.

“Fries!”

Which was something he wouldn’t be getting any time soon.

“What do you two want?” Fries asked gruffly to Bottle and Pillow, who were the two who called his name. Fries didn’t love his team, but the two former Death P.A.C.T. members were the biggest thorns in his side. They were just so obnoxious, always hounding him about plans for the future of the Blue Team. They were well-intentioned, sure, but that didn’t stop them from being annoying.

“We’ve been thinking about it, and we’ve created a Blue Team hierarchy!” Pillow said excitedly. Bottle nodded along with a wide smile on her face.

Fries scoffed, “A team hierarchy? Seriously?” he questioned incredulously.

Pillow turned her clipboard to Fries to show him the crudely draw rainbow pyramid she’d drawn. It was split into four sections. On the bottom tier in red was a drawing of Coiny, Ice Cube, Naily, and Pin. Above them were Tree and Tennisball blue, then Bottle and Pillow in green. And on the tip of the pyramid were Fries and Clock in gold.

“See, you and Clock are at the top,” Bottle pitched, “then it’s me and Pillow because we’re like your scribes or something.”

Fries pointed at the bottom tier, “Why put these four at the bottom?” he asked.

Pillow tucked her clipboard back under her arm, “Oh, it’s because they’re the weakest members of the team, so they get the least amount of authority.”

“Weakest? I’m not sure about that.” The four listed on the bottom tier didn’t make too much sense to Fries. Ice Cube was fine, she wasn’t a leader, and she wasn’t physically capable in most challenges; perfect for the bottom tier. Coiny and Naily weren’t that smart, but they’d proven helpful in challenges, especially Naily. She was the reason the Yellow Team had lost the first challenge. Pin also was a strange placement, she was leagues more intelligent then Pillow and Bottle combined. Tennisball made sense, he supposed, but he had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at Tree’s placement on the third tier. Fries sensed some bias.

“Keep this uh,” Fries drawled, glancing back at the bathroom. He thought about Clock and the rest of his team, they probably wouldn’t be happy to see themselves being ranked from most important to least important, “keep it between us, okay? I’ll tell Clock, myself, but don’t tell anyone else about this pyramid you made.”

The girls nodded and started in a different direction, discussing the intricacies of the pyramid they’d made. Fries huffed, annoyed. Leading the Blue Team was already showing to be more trouble than it was worth.

* * *

“This is weird.”

“It’s not weird; it’s warranted.”

“It’s not. It’s just weird.”

Gaty and Foldy had been going back and forth for the last five minutes, neither of them gaining any new info from each other. Marker was with them too, but he was more focused on the dirt than on the source of Foldy and Gaty’s disagreement. And what was the argument, you ask?

Snowball.

After the mech challenge, Gaty became a little obsessed with figuring out more about Snowball. His actions felt so out of character for the aggressive boy that it stuck in her head like a bad song. Donut told her that it was for selfish purposes, but Gaty wasn’t so sure. That was the most effort she’d ever seen Snowball put out since she’d met him, and Snowball very rarely put in any form of work. She wanted to see what Snowball was up to.

So, here she was, hiding in a bush and stalking her teammate. Along with Foldy and Marker, who she’d asked to come along. For some reason, they’d agreed.

“Can we go yet?” Marker groaned, letting the dirt he’d picked up slowly slide out of his hands. Foldy looked back, a sympathetic look on her face.

“Soon, Marker. As soon as Gaty here comes to her senses,” she said, her annoyance very evident. Gaty frowned, “I just wanna see if Snowball does anything else out of character.”

“You’re the only one who thinks he’s up to anything suspicious!” Foldy whisper yelled, “He hasn’t been doing anything other than talking to Lightning!”

Foldy was telling the truth. After the trio started following Snowball he’d stopped and started talking to his former Iance member.

“Your team is nowhere near as strong as the Yellow Team,” Snowball bragged smugly, his arms crossed. Lightning cocked an eyebrow at his “friend”, “The Red Team haven’t lost a challenge yet. You guys have already lost someone.”

Snowball’s smug smirk quickly melted into a frown, “Well, now we’re ten times as strong.”

Lightning was unsure, “You say that, but a couple of members of your team spying on you from a bush speaks volumes.”

Snowball shook his head, “It doesn’t matter that they’re following me, what matters is they have ME on their team! I make them strong!”

Coiny walked up to the two, a wide smile on his face, “Hey SB! Lightning! What’re you two getting up to?”

“Nothing. Hey, Coiny, you wanna help me with something?” Snowball asked, his malicious smile slowly creeping back onto his face.

“Sure! What do you need?” Coiny wondered, always happy to help. He received an answer in the form of Snowball’s hand grabbing his side and chucking him in the direction of the bush where his teammates were hidden.

“GET DOWN” Gaty yelled, jumping out of the bush. Foldy did the same, tackling Marker onto the ground. Coiny cut through the middle of the bush, slicing it in half at the roots. Coiny kept flying and stuck into the ground.

The three Yellow Team members scrambled to their feet and ran in separate directions. Snowball dusted off his hands and turned back to a bewildered Lightning.

“Jeez, SB, you’re not very good at making friends, are you?” he asked, more as a rhetorical question than anything. He wasn’t expecting Snowball to answer him.

“I don’t need any friends. I just need me.”

* * *

Beautiful days in Goiky weren’t rare. You could count the dreary and bland days on one hand. Gorgeous sunsets and blue skies were the norm. The one downside would be the heat, and that only depended on who you asked. Snowball and Ice Cube despised the overbearing sun, but people like Firey and Tree benefited from it.

The heat never bothered Pen, in fact, he quite disliked the cold. It made his ink chill, and that only made him get colder faster.

It was beautiful days like this that made him feel a little more at ease with the world.

Pen was currently flying high above the ground on top of Puffball, Barf Bag at his side. He’d wanted to get away from everyone for a little bit before their elimination, and Puffball was more than happy to oblige. Barf Bag had already been riding on Puffball and so the three were in the air.

“Who do you think’ll get eliminated?” Barf Bag asked, looking over the side of Puffball. She hated feeling awkward and she didn’t know Pen very well, but she was always open to new friends.

Pen sighed, “I don’t know, could be anyone. My money’s on Rocky though.”

“Rocky? You think they’d vote out a contestant from the original BFDI this early?” Barf Bag questioned.

“Rocky doesn’t do much,” Puffball’s modulated voice answered, “he doesn’t add anything to the cast. The viewers could realize that.”

Pen nodded and patted Puffball, “What she said.”

“Are you okay Pen?” BB wondered, “You seem kind of down.”

Pen was at a crossroads. He wasn’t sure if he could trust Barf Bag and Puffball. He wasn’t sure if he could trust _any_ of his teammates that well.

“I just...feel...like I’m on my own right now.” he said sadly, tugging at his cap, “I wasn’t on a team with my friends in BFB, and now I’m not on a team with my friends again.” Pen grimaced like he just remembered a horrid memory, “And one of them isn’t even here. He’s still on BFB.”

“Blocky,” Barf Bag grumbled at the memory of the mischievous boy. She’d never found Blocky very pleasant to be around, but that didn’t mean his friends were like that. Eraser and Pen were, frankly, a thousand times nicer than Blocky. Sure, they weren’t perfect. Eraser was lethargic and Pen was in his head too much, but that didn’t make them bad guys.

“If it makes you feel better I’m not really with any of my friends either,” Barf Bag said softly, patting Pen on the back.

“I’m not either,” Puffball added, “Free Food’s been split up all across the teams.”

“You just have to adapt, and I know that’s hard, but sometimes you just need to.” Barf Bag said honestly, “It’s a sink or swim kind of situation.”

“Is it that serious?” Pen questioned, hoping Barf Bag was just exaggerating.

Barf Bag giggled, “Not really, but you should still put forward an effort. I mean, Remote and Black Hole are already on the team, at least you know them.”

“I guess that’s true, but I’m not sure if that makes it-” Pen was cut off as his sight grew hazy and his entire world shifted. He suddenly felt incredibly sick, and it all hit him at once like a punch to the gut. In a matter of seconds, his vision returned and his nausea went away.

“Wh-what was that?” a delirious Barf Bag asked. She’d gone through the same nausea Pen had, and by the way Puffball was shaking the same could be said for her.

Pen looked down over Puffball’s side and saw a large theater stage far below them. Everyone looked like ants from this height, but he could make out Two on the stage.

“Looks like it’s time to face the music,” Pen said somberly, realizing what seeing Two meant. Puffball took the hint and started floating down toward the stage.

“Thank you for joining us, you three!” Two said happily, “Welcome to Trophy Case, Green Team!”

Pen and Barf Bag hopped off of Puffball, who returned to her regular size. The rest of the Green Team was already there. Remote was closest to the stage, Rocky by her side. Basketball was sitting close by with Grassy on her head. Winner and Cake were sitting by themselves on opposite sides of the stage, and Black Hole was hovering silently above them all.

“Trophy Case?” Barf Bag questioned. No one on the Yellow Team wanted to talk about Eggy’s elimination after episode two ended, and now looking to the stage she could understand why. Inside one of the many glass cases sitting on the stage was Eggy, now a lot more stiff than usual.

“Have you ever just got a bad feeling?” Cake asked nobody in specific, and no one had an answer for him anyway.

“Do you think we can, like, get started?” Black Hole said blankly.

Two nodded, “That we can my gaping friend!” Two snapped their fingers and large white platforms arose from the ground underneath each of the eight contestants. Grassy got off of Basketball and made his way to one of the empty spots. Black Hole floated down to the other empty platform.

“Alright,” Two started, “now that we’re all here and we’re all in our places, we can get started! We received three hundred and thirty-four votes, which is fewer than last time!”

Winner scoffed, “What’s wrong, Two? Didn’t reach the projected voting number?”

“Probably not a good idea to taunt them, Winner,” Barf Bag said cautiously. Angering Four never ended well for anyone, so Two was most likely more of the same.

Surprisingly though, Two just laughed, “You can say that Winner, sure, but not worry! I’m sure that number’ll go back up in no time!”

“The number being large always scares me,” Remote said, her shaking legs betraying her flat voice.

“Well, there’s no reason to worry, Remote, because you received the least amount of votes at eleven!” That immediately calmed the appliance down.

“After that is Black Hole and Pen with nineteen and twenty-one votes each!” It was hard for Pen to tell because...well...Black Hole didn’t have a face, but it felt like he was looking at him. Black Hole was impossible to read, and his voice gave nothing away, so Pen had no clue why the void would just be staring at him.

“Puffball!” Two continued, “You’re safe with twenty-six votes!”

Puffball breathed a sigh of relief, happy she wouldn’t have to relive the pain of elimination. At least not yet.

“Basketball and Grassy,” the two in question stiffened, “are safe with thirty-three and thirty-four votes!”

“YAY!” Grassy yelled out, jumping in the air. Basketball gave him a warm, but tired smile.

Two grinned, “Five are safe, and four aren’t. Barf Bag, Winner, Rocky, and Cake. One of you will be the next to join my trophy case.”

“Don’t sound so happy about it!” Barf Bag shivered, not wanting to suffer the same fate that Eggy had.

“Don’t worry, Barf Bag, you’re safe at forty-two votes!” Two said, giving the girl a thumbs up and a wink.

“Also safe is Cake at forty-seven votes!”

Cake rolled his eyes, “Oh, that’s great. More grating challenges.” he said sarcastically. His teammates frowned at his attitude. Well, except for Rocky, who was in his world as usual.

“Winner. Rocky.” Two spoke slowly, “You are the final two. One of you will be eliminated.”

“Can we PLEASE get a move on with this?” Winner petulantly asked, “I’d like to get the whole turning into a statue thing over.”

Two stared down at the two unsafe Green Team members, and they smiled. They lifted their hand, wisps of white light sparked in their palm.

Winner shut his eyes and braced himself for the impact of the beam. He was annoyed and scared, but he wasn’t surprised. He’d expected to get eliminated early. He was the new guy. He had no fans or friends. He could only wait until his time ran out.

So, why was he not a statue yet?

He opened his eyes just in time to watch the white beam of light blast free from Two’s hand and strike Rocky. The group flinched as the only reaction Rocky gave to being struck was a tiny squeak. The light was blinding, but it was gone almost as fast as it appeared. Rocky hadn’t changed much considering he was already a rock, but his legs were now stone as well. His eyes were clenched shut like he’d been hit in the face (which he had been).

Two pulled their hand back and blew away the smoke billowing from it, “Winner is safe forty-nine votes. That eliminates Rocky at fifty-two.”

“Yeah, we kind of put that together.” Pen said, slowly approaching the now petrified Rocky. On the stone platform beneath him was a gold plaque, just like Eggy.

_~Rocky~_

_39th Place_

“What...happens now?” Puffball asked, also staring at the statue that used to be her teammate.

Two lifted their hand, and Rocky lifted with it, and it slowly hovered over to an open case on the stage; right next to Eggy.

“Now, we start the next challenge!”

With a clap of their hands, the group was teleported again.

* * *

Two and the nine remaining members of the Green Team were teleported to the bathroom plaza where the other three teams were already waiting. They quickly picked up on who was missing.

“I wouldn’t have suspected Rocky to get eliminated.” Tennis Ball said, a mixture of surprise and sadness in his voice.

“I did,” Golf Ball boasted, “the viewers don’t care for contestants like Rocky anymore. They want contestants who _add_ something to the competition.”

“Why do you insist on being so mean, GB?” asked an exasperated Needle. Trying to get Golf Ball to be friendly was like asking a brick wall to soften up; pointless.

Book rolled her eyes, “Can we just get the next challenge started please?” She asked impatiently.

“Why yes, we can, Book!” Two smiled lifting their hand, “Brace yourselves, everyone!”

With a quick flick of their wrist, Two teleported the four teams. The bathroom plaza was replaced with a snowy mountain top. All thirty-eight contestants found their footing and gathered their surroundings. The plaza was nowhere insight, and the mountain they were standing on was a steep one.

“Oh, I don’t like being this high up,” Tennisball murmured, sounding sick. He backed his large body into his teammates, hoping to find a way down.

“Take it easy, TB,” Tree said, grabbing onto the larger object, “something tells me we won’t be up here for long.”

“You are exactly right, Tree!” Two waved their hand and out of thin air dropped four large bobsleds color-coded to the four team’s colors.

“All of you will ride down the mountain in these bobsleds, dodging trees and rocks on the way. There’s a finish line set up at the bottom of the mountain, the last team to cross that line will be up for elimination!”

Pillow raised her hand, “Are we allowed to impede each other's progress?” she asked politely. Nobody, not even her team, liked the sound of that.

“Roughhousing is encouraged!” Two said, wickedly grinning. “But enough talk! The challenge starts...now!”

Two disappeared in a puff of smoke. The teams wasted no time rushing to their bobsleds. The Yellow Team was the first to get in, Snowball pushed them over the side before hopping in himself. The Green Team followed suit, followed then by the Red Team. The Blue Team was the last group to toss themselves off the mountain.

* * *

The teams immediately found the task of riding down the mountain harder than they anticipated.

“Big rock on the left!” Donut yelled, and Snowball responded in kind by using his body weight to swerve the sled to the right, dodging the rock.

“I’d appreciate some help!” Snowball strained, scanning the obstacles in front of him, “Everyone with ARMS should be helping!”

The team did as they were told. Donut, Robot Flower, Bomby, and Marker help move the sled to the left to avoid an oncoming tree, and Snowball had been right. The sled moved much easier with the extra hands.

“This isn’t going...too bad so far,” Nickel said, daring to hope for a good outcome. Gaty nudged him, “Careful, Nickel. We don’t want any jinxes.”

“It’s a little late for that!” a voice called out, and it wasn’t from anyone on the Yellow Team. Coming up on the right side was a familiar red bobsled.

“You’re already jonxed!” it was Saw that had shouted at them.

“It’s jinxed, Saw.” Book corrected, not taking her eyes off the downward slope of the mountain. She was at the front of the sled, with Needle right behind her as the second pair of eyes.

“Keep going strong, team!” Cloudy said to his team, floating low in the bobsled. GB stood up straight, a mad grin on her face, “You heard the team leader! Push!”

Snowball lifted his head, staring ahead, but not looking. Donut watched him grow stiff at the sound of Golf Ball’s voice.

“Snowball?” Donut worried, he reached out and touched the boy’s shoulder. Snowball tensed up at the touch, which caused Donut to flinch. SB looked behind him and Donut felt his body grow cold at the icy look in the boy’s eyes. They were glazed over as if his body was an empty husk.

_“I don’t care what you say, I’m still trying!”_

“SB? Are you there?” it was Nickel who asked.

 _“You’re lying! You wouldn’t do that! Your tiny, teeny tiny little brain wouldn’t allow such insanity!”_ _  
_

“Hello? Snowball?” that was Foldy.

“GB…” he grumbled, his hands tightening on the sides of the sled.

“What?” a perplexed Donut asked, but he didn’t receive an answer in the form of words. It was more of a roar than actual words, and with that roar, Snowball yanked his team’s sled to the side and rammed it into the Red Team’s slide.

The Red Team wasn’t expecting the sudden attack, so none of the team could brace themselves. Lightning grabbed onto Bell for stability, and Eraser fell onto his back.

“What’re you maniacs doing?” Fanny screamed, her blades quickening.

“I have no idea!” Gaty yelled back, “Donut, what’s happening!?”

“Why would I know!?” a panicked Donut answered while trying to shake Snowball out of his trance.

Pie slowly opened her eyes and lazily rolled over to look at the offending enemy team. “Hey, they shouldn’t be doing that. We should stop that,” she said, sounding bored.

“Wow?” Needle said with fake enthusiasm, “Maybe it should be YOU who should do something, Pie?”

Pie shrugged, “Alright.”

Pie grabbed Needle and began brandishing her like a sword from her sitting position. Robot Flower and Nickel ducked down and avoided the swing, but TV was too big and got hit right in the middle of his screen. Robot Flower was quick to act and grabbed hold of Marker. Pie went in for a second swing and was blocked by a Marker wielding RF.

“Put me down!” Needle shrieked, sounding sick. Marker couldn’t even talk, too shaken from the collision with Needle.

Snowball grunted and pushed the sled into the Red Team’s sled again. They were so close that one member could’ve hopped into the other team’s sled. Pie and Robot Flower continued to duel each other, their poor teammates their unwilling weapons.

“Somebody stop him!” Golf Ball yelled out in anger, while also cowering on the floor of her sled.

“I can’t shake him!” Book yelled back. She veered the sled to the right, but the Yellow Team’s sled stayed on them. Robot Flower pushed against Pie, Needle, and Marker both unconscious by this point.

“I HATE THIS!” Fanny screamed, her usual malice replaced with an uncharacteristic fear.

The battling continued for another minute before it was suddenly halted by a terrain change from snow to grass and dirt. The ride down became bouncier; rougher. The members of both teams rattled around as the bottom of the mountain approached. Book pushed herself forward, nearly tipping out of the sled as she eyed the checkered finish line. Snowball kept pushing against them, but she stood strong.

“GET THIS PEABRAIN AWAY FROM ME!” GB screamed frantically, pushing against Book’s back. That extra weight helped move the Red Team’s sled ahead of the Yellow Team’s sled.

“Here come the first two teams!” Two yelled from their spot next to the finish line. It was close, almost too close to tell, but the Red Team’s sled collided with the ground first, followed by the Yellow Team.

Book hit the ground face first as the red sled tipped over her, sending the rest of her team flying. Lightning and Cloudy flew into the air, avoiding the disaster. Golf Ball and Fanny were launched forward and collided in the air. They landed hard onto the dirt, GB bouncing upon impact. Bell was held back by her string and didn’t fly away, and Eraser held onto her. Pie landed safely on her feet, but that safety was shortlived as Needle landed on top of her, causing her to explode. Pie’s innards went everywhere, splattering onto her nearby teammates.

The Yellow Team’s landing was much more gentle. Snowball put his hands out and used them to slow the sled to a halt at the finish line.

“The Red Team and the Yellow Team are both safe from elimination!” Two clapped.

“What was that all about!?” Donut screeched, pushing Snowball off the sled. The rest of the team unloaded off the sled. Snowball closed his eyes and shook his head.

“What was...what?” Snowball mumbled, confused.

“What were you doing back there? You went mad!” Robot Flower shrilled, still holding onto an unconscious Marker.

Snowball gave his two teammates a perplexed look before turning to the Red Team. He saw GB slowly getting to her feet.

“I...where?” like an amnesiac, SB rubbed his head and staggered away from his team, and left the race area. Donut couldn’t believe what he’d witnessed. The always confrontational Snowball had just...walked away from a fight. He wasn’t himself either. Snowball was hotheaded and stubborn, not soft-spoken, and forgetful.

“What...just happened?” Gaty questioned, walking up to Donut’s side. Donut frowned, unsure of how to interpret his problematic teammate’s actions. “I don’t know.” was all he could say.

Eraser let go of Bell and looked back up toward the top of the mountain and the over to Two with a confused face.

“Where’s the Blue and Green Team?”

* * *

“Two teams just reached the bottom!” Remote shouted over the rush of their sled kicking up snow.

“Don’t panic,” Barf Bag said sternly, “just stay focused!” She, Pen, and Remote were the three controlling the sled. Especially considering that they were the only members of the Green Team with arms.

“We should be down there in a few more seconds!” Basketball yelled, her eyes tightly shut with Grassy sitting between her legs.

Right behind the Green Team was the Blue Team, which was being controlled by Fries, with Pin and Coiny behind him helping. Tennis Ball was at the back of the sled, his eyes clenched shut and facing away from the action. Tree and Pillow held on tight to Tennis Ball, as he made a good, solid anchor to keep attached to.

“I’m scared!” Ice Cube feebly yelled, sounding ready to cry. Clock stomped his foot, “We just need to get ahead of the Green Team!”

“How do you suggest we do that?” Coiny asked, breathing heavily from the energy he was exerting helping move the sled. Bottle slapped Coiny on the top of his head and pointed in front of them.

“Look,” she said, “we use the rock!” she pointed to a large and particularly slanted rock directly ahead of them. Clock was able to guess Bottle's plan, and so was Coiny. “What do you say, leader?” Coiny turned to look at Clock and received an affirming if weary, nod.

“This is a bad idea,” Fries said under his breath, but still he pushed forward toward the rock. No point in going against the words of the “team leader”. The sled reached the rock and slid smoothly off the slanted stone and was suddenly airborne.

Pen was surprised that he was having a nice time sledding down the mountain. It was the perfect weather for this kind of activity. Another beautiful day in Goiky.

That’s why he was so confused as to why the sun, which had been so brutally beating down on him, was suddenly blocked out. He looked up and saw a long blue sled directly above him and his team.

“Watch out!” he heard Basketball yell. Guess she noticed the sled too. The shade was gone just as quickly as it appeared. The Blue Team’s sled landed with a loud crash in front of the Green Team. Tennis Ball, who was at the back of the blue sled, opened his eyes only to be greeted by an unhappy looking Remote.

“I...feel like that shouldn’t have worked as well as it did,” TB said, sounding more confused than anything. “It shouldn’t have!” Cake shouted from near the back of the green sled.

“We need to get ahead of them.” Barf Bag said, more to herself than anything. Puffball had heard her thought, “What do we do?”

“Uhm,” Black Hole spoke up, “I think I have an idea that might work.” Black Hole the entire time had just been sort of...floating behind his team’s sled. Staying as close to it as he could without directly pulling it into his gravitational pull.

“Whatever you plan on doing you should do it now.” Winner leaned back against the side of the sled as the snow transitioned into grass.

Black Hole would’ve nodded if he could, but he couldn’t, so he didn’t. Instead, he moved away from his sled and toward the Blue Team’s sled. He hovered in the air them before suddenly pulsing to life as if a switch inside him had turned on.

The Blue Team kept pushing down the hill, but their progress came to a sudden stop.

“Hey guys,” Coiny said, nervousness creeping into his voice, “why did we...uhm...why’d we stop?”

“I’ll give you one guess,” an exasperated Clock spoke, looking toward Black Hole. The sled started sliding to the side, closer to Black Hole. It began with a gentle tug, but that tug was quickly turning into an aggressive pull. Another second passed and the sled was in the air and fully sucked into Black Hole’s gravitational pull. The team flew out of the sled and circled BH, along with their sled. They were rolling over each other in the pull, knocking into each other and also the sled.

The Green Team stopped their sled and watched in awe as the Blue Team swirled around their teammate. “Come on, Black Hole! We have to get to the finish line!” Barf Bag shouted.

“Oh. Alright.”

Black Hole pulsed again, and the spiraling Blue Team sped up. Before they could reach maximum velocity Black Hole let them go, sending them all (and their sled) careening into a nearby tree. Naily hit the tree first, piercing it. Naily was followed by Clock and Tree. Tree collided with Naily and Clock missed the tree completely, landing on his face. Bottle and Ice Cube both hit the tree at high speed, causing them both to shatter. Tennis Ball also flew past the tree, hitting Clock (who was in the middle of standing up), and rolling away from his team. Pin, Fries, Coiny, and Pillow all hit the tree at the same time, and then they proceeded to get hit with their sled, which snapped in two against the tree.

Black Hole moved back down toward his team, who were all staring at him in shock.

“What?” he asked, confusion seeping into his voice. No one knew what to say, and so they didn’t say anything. They just started moving the sled once again with no further interference from the Blue Team. They crossed the finish line with no fanfare.

“And the Green Team claim the final safe spot!” Two encouraged, “That means that the Blue Team is up for elimination!”

The three safe teams heard a scream get louder as Tennis Ball rolled down the hill, unable to stop himself.

“I think that about sums it up.” Winner deadpanned.

* * *

**“Use the link below to vote for who YOU think should be eliminated from the Blue Team! Voting will end on November 20th!**

**(VOTING FOR THIS EPISODE HAS ENDED)**   
  


**https://www.poll-maker.com/poll3220595x48c444a5-100**

* * *

**Teams**

**Red Team:** Book, Golf Ball, Eraser, Bell, Fanny, Saw, Lightning, Needle, Cloudy, Pie

 **Blue Team:** Pin, Tree, Pillow, Fries, Coiny, Clock, Bottle, Naily, Tennis Ball, Ice Cube

 **Yellow Team:** Donut, TV, Snowball, Robot Flower, Nickel, Foldy, Gaty, Marker, Bomby

 **Green Team:** Black Hole, Pen, Remote, Puffball, Winner, Grassy, Barf Bag, Cake, Basketball

**The Statues:** Eggy, Rocky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This is the first time I'm leaving an author's note. I just wanna thank everyone who's been enjoying this story so far. It's a big task and a big cast to work with, but I'm happy with what I've done so far. I'm writing this note because I want to encourage reader participation. Vote for who you want out, leave a comment, all that great stuff. I wanna hear what you guys think. Who's your favorite character so far? Who do you think has new interesting character dynamics? Which characters do you want to have more screen time? These are things I can take into consideration while writing and all feedback is appreciated.


	4. Episode 4: The Cutting Hedge

Lightning had never been one to be nosey, but that went out the window when he smelled something suspicious.

His new team had been a mixed bag. People like Golf Ball and Fanny made it hard for him to enjoy himself, but people like Eraser and Saw made it tolerable. He also liked Cloudy, which was why he was so concerned. He’d been spending a lot of time with Golf Ball in the last few days, which generally wouldn’t be a problem, but it was _only_ Golf Ball he was spending time with. The two of them had been acting strange since the team unanimously promoted Cloudy to team leader.

Hence why he was hiding in a bush by the entrance to Golf Ball’s underground, waiting for the two of them to come by. Was it a breach of privacy? Yes. Was it because he wanted to find out what was going on with a potential friend? Yes, again.

Lightning heard the sound of chatter and ducked lower into the bush so as not to be spotted.

“You’ve been doing good, but you’re far from perfect.” Lightning recognized GB’s raspy voice.

“I...never said I was perfect.” and there was Cloudy. His voice was the most distinct of any of the contestants.

“Well, good, because you aren’t. We still have a lot of work to do.” GB said firmly.

 _Work? What could she mean by that?_ Lighting wondered, doing his best to remain still. The last thing he needed was Golf Ball mad at him for snooping.

“GB! Cloudy!” a voice shouted out to the duo. Lightning couldn’t see her, but he could recognize the voice as Bell’s.

“Oh, hey Bell!” Cloudy exclaimed, sounding happy to see another face, “Do you need something?”

“Book and Needle were having a game of tic tac toe and it was getting pretty intense! Eraser and Fanny started betting money on the games. I wanted to see if you wanted to join?”

Lightning sighed. That sounded like a pretty cool sight to see. Nothing was better than a particularly intense game of tic tac toe. But instead, he was uncomfortably hunched low in a bush spying on his teammates. Funny how life worked out sometimes.

“That sounds like it’d be-” Cloudy’s words were cut off by GB loudly coughing. A moment of silence passed before Cloudy started talking again, this time a little more feebly, “Well, actually...I can’t right now. But I can join later, okay?” he said, sounding unsure of himself.

“Cloudy and I have work we need to complete. As his assistant team leader, I must help him with said issues.” Golf Ball said matter of factly. Lightning didn’t hear her say anything else, but he did hear her footsteps start down the metal steps to her underground factory. The last thing Lightning heard was Cloudy stutter before apologizing. No more words were exchanged after that, so he assumed that his team leader had floated after Golf Ball.

Lightning decided it was time to cut his losses and floated out of the bush he was hiding in, startling Bell.

“Well, that didn’t get me anywhere.” Lightning said, defeated. Bell blanched at the boy’s sudden appearance, “W-where did you come from?”

Lightning pointed lamely at his hiding spot, “Bush.” he said, frustration obvious. Bell looked past him and down the entrance to Golf Ball’s factory. “I’m worried about him,” she said aloud, more to herself than Lightning.

“I am too,” Lightning agreed, “that’s why I was hiding in the bush. I wanted to see what they’ve been up to.”

Bell frowned, “It has to be Golf Ball. I don’t know what she’s up to, but she’s doing...something.” she finished, unsure of herself.

Lightning nodded, “I agree, but we can’t be sure what she’s planning. And I _really_ don’t want to go down into the factory.”

Bell didn’t say anything, but she agreed with the bolt more than she’d care to admit. She’d never been one to pick fights, and she wasn’t about to start, but watching the cloud that was supposed to lead the Red Team walk off with another member without talking to anyone else made her clapper ache. It annoyed her. A team was supposed to stick together, no matter what! Even if the teams were randomly assigned you still try and make it work.

“You said Book and Needle were playing tic tac toe?” Lightning asked. Bell nodded, “A pretty intense one I might say.”

Lightning grinned, “Now, that’s something I gotta see!” he floated past Bell toward the direction she came from. Bell smiled, though only a little. Cloudy and Golf Ball may not’ve been team players, but at least the rest of her team was cool.

* * *

Tree was struggling.

He’d been struggling for the past few days now but had been keeping himself. He preferred being more stoic, not letting people get to him. He did it on purpose because he knew that that made him unique to the viewer. That was what made Death P.A.C.T. so successful. Being on a team with scatterbrains like Pillow and Bottle made _him_ stand out against their eccentricities. That’s also why he and Black Hole got on so well. Though he was pretty sure that Black Hole was just...like that.

He tapped his hand against the picnic table he was sitting at. Waiting at the bathrooms for Two to summon his team for elimination was nerve-wracking. Especially since Two would often just disappear after challenges and reappear for Trophy Case. This would be the Blue Team’s first elimination and Tree was feeling the pressure. The uniqueness he felt he had in Death P.A.C.T. didn’t seem so unique on his new team. Why would they need snide ol’ Tree when they had Fries’ grouchiness or Clock’s special brand of cynicism? It worried him. The last thing he wanted was to end up like Eggy or Rocky.

“You look like you’re thinking.”

Tree looked up to see Pie sitting down across from him. Her eyes watched him in that lazy manner that they always did.

He chuckled at what she’d said, “Yeah, I tend to do that a lot.”

“Well, what’re you thinking about?” Pie asked slowly, resting her head in her hand.

“You shouldn’t be talking to me,” Tree shot back, “we’re not on the same team anymore.”

Pie shrugged, “Why would that matter?”

“Because people can be paranoid, and someone may think we’re scheming together.” Tree hushed, nervously tugging at one of his branches.

“But we’re not,” Pie defended, rolling her eyes, “so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Tree acquiesced, “How are things on the Red Team?”

“They’re boring,” she sighed, “but they’re good at preventing death, which is what I care about.”

“Does not dying count as preventing death?” Tree skeptically asked.

“Is death happening?” Pie questioned rhetorically. Tree never understood Pie’s obsession with death prevention. It started as a nice sentiment that he went with, but after a while, it became clear how serious she was about her mission. She was strange and lackadaisical, but she was determined to keep people alive. An admirable trait, truly.

“How’s life on the Blue Team?”

“I, uh,” Tree hesitated, “I think they’re hiding something from me.”

“Really?” Pie cocked an eyebrow, “Even with Bottle and Pillow on the team?”

“That’s just it,” Tree said quickly, “I think it’s _them_ hiding something from the rest of the team.”

Pie shook her head, “What makes you say that?”

“They’ve been talking with Fries and Clock a lot.”

“So?”

“Fries and Clock, and nobody else,” Tree elaborated, “not me, not Naily, not Coiny, not Tennis Ball. Nobody.”

“Well, Bottle and Pillow can be a little…,” Pie trailed off, not wanting to say anything rude about her former teammates. Tree knew what she was getting at, however. Pillow’s head was just a bunch of fluff and Bottle was a tad bit of an airhead. They weren’t capable of deception, but they _could_ be deceived.

He’d have to watch out for Fries and Clock.

“I think you’re probably paranoid.” Pie laughed, looking up at the sky.

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean-” Tree cut himself off as Pie and the bathroom plaza was replaced with an open field. He whipped his head around to see Two’s stage along with the trophy case he’d heard so much about. Naily, Bottle, and Tennis Ball were on his left, and Clock, Pillow, and Ice Cube were on his right. Two stood in the middle of the stage, with that familiar smile on their face.

Fries appeared next, “Just tell me what they-,” he choked on his sentence and turned toward the stage. “Oh, well that’s just great.”

“Let me guess. You were also in mid-conversation?” Tree snarked, knowing full well what Fries’ answer would be. Coiny and Pin were the last two to arrive, appearing closest to the stage.

“Welcome to Trophy Case, Blue Team!” Two clapped their hands together, “It’s time to find out which of you ten will be eliminated!”

“And whoever gets eliminated ends up in the case?” Tennis Ball wondered, looking up at the frozen Eggy and Rocky. Two nodded, still smiling, “That’s right, and we got a whopping four hundred fifty-one votes; the most yet!”

“That sounds like a lot,” Naily said in wonderment.

Fries crossed his arms, “Those numbers are small potatoes. Remember what they looked like on BFB?” he elbowed Naily, who cheekily laughed in response.

Two frowned, but soldiered forward, “Naily is the first safe with only eleven votes,” he said, noticeably less enthused.

Naily smiled at the good news before nudging Fries’ side. “You really rattled them, huh?” she said, grinning up at him. Fries just huffed, “It’s not like it’s hard. Just compare them to Four and they clam up.”

“Pillow is safe with nineteen votes and Tennis Ball is safe with twenty-three votes!” Two cheered, their enthusiasm for the elimination returning, “and Fries is also safe with twenty-four votes!”

“Oh no,” Pin panicked, “how can I get so many votes?”

“Don’t worry, Pin, you’re the next safe with thirty votes!” Two beamed, “Followed by Clock and Coiny with fourty-two and fourty-four votes respectively!”

“Yes!” Coiny fist pumped. Clock let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding in. Fourty-four votes was too many in the grand scheme of things, but it was still too many for him to feel comfortable. He’d have to try and adjust his behavior.

“Tree, Bottle, and Ice Cube! You three are the last ones who have yet to be declared safe!” Two confirmed, eyeing the last three Blue Team members. Tree and Icy shared a nervous glance, not excited at the prospect of turning to stone. Bottle was...being Bottle. She was staring off past Two and their stage at nothing in particular.

Two stood silent, allowing the team to take in the intensity before they spoke, “Tree! You are safe with fifty-seven votes!”

“Oh, thank goodness.” a relieved Tree said, “I really thought I was a goner there for a minute.”

“We’re not that lucky,” Naily chuckled but received a smack to the back of the head from Pin.

“It’s down to the final two,” Two said, sticking out two fingers. Ice Cube shivered, terrified. Bottle rapidly blinked, finally tuning back into what was currently happening.

“Wait, are we already done?” she asked.

Two shook their head, “No, Bottle. We were just about to eliminate ICE CUBE with her one hundred and thirty-three votes!”

“What?” Ice Cube whimpered, hoping she’d heard the number wrong. She took a step back, inadvertently bumping into Tennis Ball.

“Right. On with it then.” Two said passively, snapping their fingers. A wispy white light appeared in their right hand. Tree and Bottle slowly backed away from the panicked Ice Cube as Two brought their hands together, making the ball of light larger.

Ice Cube barely had a second to react before Two pushed their hands forward, sending the white light shooting out toward her. It connected with her face, the force causing Tennis Ball to be launched backward.

Her iconic screaming filled the air as her frame shook from the force of the beam. The rest of her team were forced to look away from the sheer brightness of it.

When the light faded, standing where Icy once stood was a statue in her likeness. Her face was now frozen (haha) in a state of panic and alarm. Pillow was the first to approach the new statue and read the plaque on its pedestal.

_~Ice Cube~_

_38th Place_

“How unfortunate,” Pillow said sadly, pitying the fate of the BFDI veteran. The girl finished seventh in the original Battle For Dream Island, you’d think that’d earn her point with long-time viewers.

“That’s not what I’d call it,” Fries scoffed, folding his arms, “Icy wasn’t much of a leader anyway.”

“No need to be harsh, Fries.” Tree chastised, not in the mood for Fries’ cynicism.

Two clapped their hands again and Ice Cube levitated off the ground and hovered to her spot in the trophy case right next to Rocky. “Okay! Now that that’s taken care of we can get on with the next challenge!” Two said, and with that, he teleported the Blue Team and themselves back to the other teams.

* * *

“So, who do you think it’s gonna be?” Foldy asked the group as a whole. They were all standing around the bathroom plaza, waiting for Two to return with the Blue Team.

“My money’s on Fries.” Nickel said confidently. Basketball turned to him, surprised, “Seriously? What makes you say it’ll be Fries?”

“The guy’s a jerk,” Nickel stated matter of factly, “and jerks don’t last long in these shows.”

“By that logic, it might be Clock who gets eliminated,” Barf Bag added, “he’s not exactly what I’d call the nicest.”

“Clock isn’t a jerk,” Needle interjected, not looking up from her tic tac toe game with Book, “him being a little grouchy sometimes doesn’t make him a jerk.” She marked down an x and crossed through the three x’s in a row. “That’s game.”

Book sighed and tossed her pencil over her shoulder, “That’s two to five. You’re way too good at this game, Needle.”

Needle opened her mouth to thank Book for the compliment, but she was stopped by Two appearing with the Blue Team in tow. The other three teams scanned the now nine other contestants to see who’d been eliminated. It was Donut who noticed who was eliminated first.

“It was Ice Cube?” Donut said, shocked.

“So much for original contestants being safe from elimination.” Cake stated plainly.

“Rocky proved that point at the last elimination,” Saw added, “being an original contestant doesn’t mean anything, I guess.”

“Can we just get on with the next contest please Two?” Tennis Ball pleaded, not wanting to continue dwelling on his teammate's elimination.

Two smiled, “We can do EXACTLY that, TB!”

Two lifted their hands into the air before slamming them into the dirt off to the side of the Bathroom Plaza. A mixture of white and green light spread across the grass and slowly grew upward. It grew and grew into the light solidified across the field. When the light faded in its place stood a gigantic hedge maze.

“Oh no,” Nickel said quietly, suddenly filled with a deep sense of deja vu.

“Here’s your next challenge!” Two yelled excitedly, gesturing up to the hedges.

“Hedges?” Eraser asked, still not fully getting it.

“That’s exactly right, Eraser. Hedges!” Two assured, “Your job is to get through this giant hedge maze!”

“From one end to the other?” Pin asked, hoping it’d be that simple.

“Nope. The middle!” Two corrected, “In the middle of the hedge of maze is a button. Every member of your team MUST press the button in order to be safe from elimination! The last team with people still in the maze will be up for elimination!”

“Can we split up from our team?” Cake asked, already planning to get away from the rest of his team.

“You can do whatever you want. The only rules are you can’t go through the hedge walls, and you can’t float above the walls to see where you’re going. Also, if you DO split up and part of your team is still in the maze, then they’re on their own.” Two explained, “Each team will start at one of four openings to the maze on each side. They’re all equal distance from the middle.”

“We’re not gonna have to walk there are we?” Eraser groaned, perishing the thought of being forced to walk.

Two smiled wryly as his words before clapping their hands together, teleporting the team to their individual entrances.

“THE CHALLENGE STARTS NOW!” Two belted out, using their powers to project their voice out for all contestants to hear.

* * *

**Red Team**

“So, what’s the plan, team leader?” Bell asked Cloudy.

“Well, I t-think,” he stuttered, trying to think on his feet, “what do you guys think?”

“We should probably stick together.” Needle answered, “If we all need to make it to the middle then we shouldn’t split up.”

“Excellent idea!” Golf Ball exclaimed loudly, “Very democratic approach, Cloudy. I expected nothing less from such a strong leader!”

“Well, then we can’t sit around.” Needle said impatiently, staring off into the maze. Pie followed close behind her.

“I hate mazes!” Fanny yelled to nobody in specific, but still, she followed her team into the hedges.

Lightning was about to follow his team into the maze but was stopped by something hitting his back. He turned around and saw Bell, a mischievous smile on her face.

“I have a plan to help Cloudy,” she said, barely above a whisper, “do you want to help?”

Lightning looked over his shoulder at the Red Team walking into the maze, and he focused on how close Golf Ball was sticking to Cloudy. He knew something had to be done.

“What’re we gonna do?” he asked, turning back to Bell. The girl’s smile widened, “I’ll tell you while we walk. We can’t lose the group.”

She moved past Lightning toward the entrance, and he quickly followed after her.

* * *

**Yellow Team**

“Were you not listening to Two? They said that we can’t go through the hedge walls!”

Donut’s words fell on deaf ears as the Yellow Team sat aside and watched Snowball fruitlessly attempt to push himself through one of the many walls of the hedge maze. Two hadn’t been lying about being unable to push through the walls. They’d set up some kind of invisible barrier on the hedge walls that made it impossible to push through them. However, Snowball seemed to be missing that fact, as he was still attempting to muscle through.

“Can’t we just leave him?” Foldy asked, almost begged the rest of her team. She didn’t like Snowball and would be happy to take any chance to ditch him that she could.

“Not if you want to win,” Gaty rolled her eyes, “we need all of our teammates to win, and Snowball is still one of those teammates.”

“Could’ve fooled me,” Nickel muttered under his breath. He watched, slightly amused, as Snowball continued to try and push his shoulder through the barrier.

“Theoretically, we could leave him,” Robot Flower postulated, “he would just need to find his way to the middle by himself.”

“Well, I don’t know if I trust him to do that, frankly,” Donut sneered, shaking his head at the pathetic display Snowball was putting on.

“Agreed!” Bomby piped out, not thinking much of the ball’s intelligence.

“We can’t leave him!” Marker yelled, putting his hand on Snowball’s back as he pushed.

“Almost...through,” Snowball strained, throwing all his body weight into the hedge wall.

“You’re...you’re not,” Foldy said, not enjoying the sad display.

“We’re wasting time by standing around,” Donut complained, “SB can we PLEASE keep moving?”

With one last hard push, Snowball backed off of the wall. He huffed and puffed, his energy thoroughly used up. He looked over his team’s disapproving gazes and sighed in defeat.

“Fine,” he acquiesced with a roll of his eyes, “but you guys better hope that your way gets us the win.”

Donut couldn’t resist the urge to facepalm.

* * *

**Green Team** **\- Pen, Remote, Black Hole, Winner**

“It was a bad idea to split up.”

“Yeah...probably.”

Pen put his hands over his face and groaned. The Green team had quickly split up upon entering the maze, and he was very quickly beginning to regret the idea. Not because he thought the idea was, but because of who he got stuck with. Not only was he trapped with two former members of Death P.A.C.T., but he was also trapped with the ball of negativity that was Winner. He was going to give Barf Bag an earful for leaving him like this when the challenge was over.

“There’s no point in complaining,” Remote said, her emotionless voice teetering on the brink of irritation, “we are already separated.”

The three objects (and Black Hole) took a left and continued down a long path of uninterrupted hedge. They’d tried testing Two’s rule of ‘no flying above the hedge walls’ but Two was no challenge slouch. The same force field on the walls was above them as well. Even Black Hole couldn’t push himself through it, so they’d have to complete the maze the conventional way.

“What way do you think we should turn?” Black Hole asked, referring to the split path they’d reached.

“We should go left,” Winner said passively, “that’ll take us deeper in the maze.”

Pen rolled his eyes, “Wow, thanks for actually participating, Winner. Very cool.”

“Be nice,” Remote said, attempting to nip the argument in the bud before it could bloom. Without another word, she went down the path Winner said, her three other teammates following behind her.

* * *

**Blue Team**

“Are you sure we shouldn’t split up, Clock?” Coiny questioned.

“As sure as can be.” Clock replied, “Splitting up would be a mistake.”

The Blue Team was extremely lost. It was funny how quickly you could lose your bearings after a few sharp turns. Clock made it clear that the group would stick together and Fries seconded the notion. Not everyone had agreed with it, however.

“I mean, I feel like we could cover more ground if we split up,” Coiny argued, not backing down.

“And then what, Coiny?” Fries snapped, "We split up and one of us finds the middle of the maze. That'd leave everyone else on their own."

"We could wait in the middle for the rest of the team." Pin offered, stepping in between her friend and their leader.

"Wouldn't that defeat the point of splitting up at all?" Tennis Ball questioned.

“Hence why we shouldn’t split up,” Clock said, turning to his team behind him, “and also, we’re not splitting up. I thought we cleared that up.”

“It’s just something we could consider,” Coiny mumbled, shaking his head.

“Sorry, Coiny,” Pillow shook her head, “but you can’t shoot above your station.”

That got Tree’s attention. “Station?” he asked, “What stations?”

Fries felt his shoulders tense up. He should’ve known asking Pillow to keep a secret wouldn’t work out well. He didn’t know the girl very well, but in the short time he’d known her personally, he could tell she was a little spacey. That or she just didn’t care.

Pillow reached behind her and yanked out the same chart she’d shown Fries. She pointed at the very bottom of the pyramid, “See here? You, Pin, Naily, and formally Ice Cube rank lowest in the hierarchy. That means all other members of the team outrank you.” she finished, sounding a little too proud of herself.

“Wait,” Naily shook her head in disbelief, “you’re ranking us now?”

“And why are me and Coiny at the bottom?” Pin questioned angrily.

Tennis Ball studied the chart before whipping around to look at Clock. “Did you know about this?” he queried, doing his best not to sound angry.

Clock backed up. He was _very_ unprepared for conflict, and it didn’t help that he had no clue about the chart Pillow had made. “I...I didn’t know about a chart.”

“I don’t believe that for a second,” a flustered Tree spat, “you and Fries have been scheming ever since you became leader.”

Clock quickly went from nervous to upset, “Need I remind you that it was YOU who first elected me leader, Tree?”

Tree rolled his eyes, “Clearly that was a mistake. I wouldn’t have voted you leader if I knew you’d put us into tiers.”

“I didn’t!” Clock yelled, standing his ground.

Naily turned on her heel and started down one of the random paths. “I don’t want anything to do with a team that ranks its members. ESPECIALLY one that ranks me at the bottom!”

Tree nodded and followed after her, “I second that. I’m _leafing_ with Naily.”

Coiny was quick to follow them. Pin gave her team leaders one last look of disappointment before joining the diverging pack.

Tennis Ball sighed, “I’ll keep an eye on them, but we’ll talk about this when the challenge is finished.” with that, he followed after the other group of Blue Teamers. Leaving Clock, Fries, Pillow, and Bottle to their own devices.

“Well,” started Bottle, “that didn’t go very well.”

“Oh, YOU THINK!?” Fries yelled, finally letting his frustrations overwhelm him.’

* * *

**Green Team** **\- Barf Bag, Puffball, Grassy, Cake, Basketball**

Barf Bag’s side of the Green Team was doing worlds better than Pen’s. They’d been quietly traversing the maze without really speaking to each other. Grassy was quietly kicking his feet on top of Basketball, who was bringing up the back of the pack. Cake was in the middle, watching his feet as he silently trudged forward. He wasn’t too happy to be participating, but he knew he had to, less he wanted to end up like Rocky. Barf Bag was leading the group with Puffball close behind her. She had zero clue what she was doing, but she knew that _acting_ confident made team morale better.

She looked to her right at Puffball floating silently next to her. The sick bag didn’t know much about Puffball, only that she’d had some kind of break when BFDIA was still running that caused her to be the last contestant eliminated from that season. She refused to talk about it when she came to the TLC. In fact, she pretty much refused to talk to anybody. She’d improved once they’d all been freed, but that curiosity about the puff’s inner machinations never left Barf Bag.

Good thing they were on the same team.

“Are you okay?” Barf Bag asked. Puffball rapidly blinked, as if she’d zoned out. She’d had a faraway look in her eyes when she smiled at BB.

“Yeah! I’m okay,” she said, looking away, “it’s just boring wandering around the maze.”

“I get that,” BB anxiously rubbed her arm, trying to choose her next words carefully, “it’s just...you seem upset, is all.”

Puffball shook her head (which is also her body, but you get the idea), “No, I’m okay. I just have some...things...on my mind.” she said slowly, sounding unsure of herself.

Barf Bag raised her eyebrow, “That doesn’t _sound_ like you’re doing okay.” she placed her hand on Puffball’s back, “I know we’re not close, but we can talk if you need to.”

Puffball gave Barf Bag a grateful smile before looking to the ground. “What would you do...if you thought someone you cared about was taking advantage of you?”

Barf Bag frowned. She hadn’t been prepared for something that heavy. She’d half expected it to just be anxieties about a new team.

“That’s a complicated question, Puffball,” Barf Bag said warily, “with a lot of different answers. However, I’d say that a friend that uses another friend for their selfish gain isn’t much of a friend.” she finished honestly.

Puffball turned away, deep in thought. She stopped floating forward, causing Barf Bag to also stop walking.

“What if that person was the only person that was ever there for you?”

Barf Bag didn’t have an answer to that.

The girl’s awkward silence was ended by the sound of small footsteps. Grassy ran between the two of them, a giant smile on his face.

“We are near the middle,” his tiny, raspy voice yelled, “Grassy can sense it!”

The two girls gave each other a look of confusion before Basketball barreled between them next. Grassy took a hard right and Basketball wordlessly followed behind him.

“What?” Barf Bag asked dumbly. Cake stood next to her, just as confused. “I guess we’re near the middle,” he said, following the two runaway GreenTeamers.

Puffball and Barf Bag shared one more look before following after their tiny teammate. At least Grassy _seemed_ to know where he was going.

* * *

**Yellow Team**

“Just admit it. You have no clue where the middle is.”

“I do so know! It’s in the middle!”

Foldy had to resist the urge to slam her face into the dirt. Following Snowball’s lead had yielded no results so far. The Yellow Team had been left meandering with no idea which direction to head in. Snowball had just been picking random directions to go in while dragging his teammates behind him.

“Can we just stop and think things through for a second?” Gaty begged, rushing up to Snowball’s side. The ball was marching forward ahead of his team.

“We can’t afford to stop,” Donut said, putting a hand on Gaty’s head, “but we should still strategize a little. Just taking random turns isn’t working.”

“Can we even do something else?” Bomby questioned, pulling a winded Marker up higher on his back. Marker had gotten tired earlier in the maze and Bomby had offered him a ride.

“There’s no nothing else we CAN do,” Nickel grunted, “all we can _do_ is walk around aimlessly until we hopefully stumble upon the middle.”

Robot Flower pivoted her waist and turned to Nickel without moving her legs, “You have been snippy since the challenge began. Why are you in such a bad mood?”

Nickel looked away from her.

_“Suitcase. I don’t want us getting in danger like that again. Let’s just ditch him, there’s still time.”_

_“...I’m not ditching anyone.”_

“I...don’t like hedge mazes,” he responded quietly.

Donut rolled his eyes, “Yes, Nickel, that’s very cryptic and interesting, but it doesn’t help us very much, does it?”

“Wait!” TV pitched, using a clip of Flower, “DO. YOU. HEAR THAT?”

The team stopped squabbling to listen for what TV was referring to. Among the quiet wind and ruffling of leaves, a voice could be heard beyond one of the hedge walls.

“We are near the middle! Grassy can sense it!”

TV and Robot Flower looked at each other, recognizing the voice of their former teammate instantly. The team listened intently to the sound of Grassy’s tiny footsteps, followed quickly by the stampede of the rest of his team.

When the loud steps started to quiet down the Yellow Team all shared glances before following in the direction of the Green Team’s footfalls.

* * *

**Red Team**

The Red Team’s trip through the hedge maze had been a slow one. At least, that’s how Needle felt like it was going. Walking silently while Golf Ball and Cloudy chatted ahead of the rest of them had her head fit to split. Just turning and walking, walking in turning. She needed some form of stimulation soon or else she’d snap.

She looked ahead at Book, who was walking in front of her.

Target spotted.

“Hey,” Needle said, getting Book’s attention, “sorry about what happened to Ice Cube.”

Book turned to Needle, confused, “What? What do you mean?”

Needle shrugged, “You guys were friends, weren’t you? She and I weren’t close, not even back on the original BFDI, but you guys were always together.”

Book looked away from Needle, a sad look in her eyes, “We kind of...grew apart.”

Needle was starting to know what that felt like. She missed her Losers. She missed Coiny and Pin. How come _they_ got to stay on the same team? Stupid Two and their stupid random team picking.

“What about Saw? She was on Bleh, right?” Needle questioned, not prepared for Book to scowl.

“She doesn’t want anything to do with me,” Book hissed, but her anger fizzled away, replaced with deep sadness, “I...I made a lot of mistakes on Bleh.”

Needle gave the girl a small smile, “Sounds like we could both use a friend right now.”

Book wrung her hand together, unsure of what to say. She knew she’d have to make new allies eventually, but it’d been a long time since she had to make friends. She’d always been closest to Ice Cube, but that ship had officially sailed when she got turned into a statue.

Needle wasn’t too sure what to think about Book, but she took the girl’s hesitant nod and smile as acceptance of her offer. The two walked quietly; side by side. Though the silence was a little more comfortable than it had previously been.

At the back of the pack, Bell and Lightning walked. Scheming.

“It’s now or never, partner. You ready?” Bell whispered to Lightning, making sure no one except her companion could hear.

“I’m still not so sure about this,” Lightning murmured, “GB’s not gonna be too happy about this.”

“That’s partially the point,” Bell said, “we need to get her away from Cloudy. Now are you ready?” she asked again.

Lightning looked over his team in front of them, all of them completely unsuspecting of his and Bell’s intended subterfuge. In a single moment, he steeled his nerves and nodded firmly.

And Bell moved into action.

Swerving past Saw and in between Book and Needle, Bell moved faster than Lightning had ever seen her move. For a bell, she was also shockingly silent, somehow keeping her clapper from making noise. She pushed past Eraser and Pie and came upon Golf Ball and Cloudy like a predator stalking her prey. Without no one any the wiser, she struck.

“GOLF BALL” she announced loudly so the entire team could hear. GB and Cloudy jumped at the sudden loudness directly behind them. “I NEED TO SPEAK TO YOU IN PRIVATE!”

Before Golf Ball had the chance to get mad, Bell pushed her off into a diverging hedge pathway and disappeared around a corner. Before Fanny (who was closest to the incident) could speak up, Lightning pushed past her and wordlessly grabbed ahold of Cloudy and yanked him down a different diverging hedge path, leaving the Red Team now four members smaller.

"Wha- I," Saw stuttered, unsure of what she saw had actually happened.

Eraser crossed his arms, "Yep. That might as well happen."

* * *

**Blue Team** \- **Tree, Naily, Tennis Ball, Coiny, Pin**

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THEM!" Naily yelled at the top of her tiny lungs.

"I can," Tree mumbled, still heated from the confrontation with his team leader, "I didn't trust either of them."

The five angry Blue Teamers had been hotly walking aimlessly around the hedge maze, whinging about the pyramid Pillow had shown them. Well, Tree and Naily were whinging. Pin, Coiny, and Tennis Ball had been fairly quiet while the boy and girl harped at each other about how wronged they felt.

“I just don’t get why they’d put us in the bottom.” Coiny lamented, feeling low. Seeing himself at the bottom of the pyramid had completely shot his morale. Pin patted her friend on the back. She hadn’t been too upset with the ranking chart, honestly, it seemed like something she would’ve done back in the first season of BFDI. She was more confused than anything. Why make one at all? Clock and Fries should’ve known that something like this would divide them.

Tennis Ball also wasn’t angry, more concerned at what the state of the team would be once the challenge was up. It was most likely too late in the game to ask Two for a change in teams.

“What’re we gonna do,” Coiny sulked, “things are gonna be different now. They’re gonna be weird.”

“We can make them get rid of the chart,” Pin offered, “we tell them we won’t participate in the challenges if they don’t get rid of it.”

“That’d solve _one_ problem,” Tree scowled, “but we’d still have two gigantic ones in charge of our team.”

Tennis Ball raised an eyebrow, “You still wouldn’t trust Fries and Clock?”

Tree shook his head, causing loose leaves to fall from his branches, “Not in the slightest, and we can’t trust Pillow or Bottle either.”

Tree wasn’t going to pretend like he was very close with anybody on the former Death P.A.C.T., but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel at least a little betrayed by Pillow and Bottle siding with Fries and Clock. He didn’t think too highly of the girls’ intelligence, and they wouldn’t be hard to take advantage of. It made him even angrier at their “leaders”.

“I have an idea,” Naily declared, a wide smile on her face, “what if we form an alliance?”

Tree rubbed his chin in contemplation, “That _could_ work. We could police the others to make sure the Blue Team remains fair and just.”

“Exactly!” Naily squealed, jumping up and down with excitement, “we all still stay on a team, but we have each other’s back at the same time!”

“I think that could work,” Pin said triumphantly. Coiny nodded along, his enthusiasm returning to him if only a little bit.

As the four Blue Teamers tittered with each other, Tennis Ball stood by, a terrible feeling in his gut. Splitting a team into two factions would only make the turmoil worse. TB lived in a world of logic and reasoning. He found comfort in statistics and numbers.

However, the odds of this situation working out smoothly was making him the _opposite_ of comfortable.

* * *

 **Green Team** **\- Barf Bag, Puffball, Grassy, Cake, Basketball**

“GRASSY, SLOW DOWN!” Basketball yelled after her tiny friend. She’d been running after Grassy for the last few minutes and she was beginning to feel fatigued. Barf Bag, Puffball, and Cake had managed to keep up with her and Grassy despite all the twists and turns he was taking them on.

“GRASSY!” she yelled again, following the boy around another tight turn. However, the chase stopped as she saw Grassy standing in front of the opening to another part of the maze. Basketball came to a halt behind Grassy, thankful that she didn’t have to run anymore. She looked up at where Grassy was staring, and couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Grassy,” she said, still out of breath, “I think you found it.”

“It” was a large, open area of the maze. As opposed to the narrow and constrictive walls of the regular maze, the middle of the maze was spacious and free. All the contestants could easily fit within it and there’d still be room left over. Basketball made a mental note that there were also three other entrances into the middle.

The most eye-catching part of the middle of the maze, however, was in the middle of it. There stood a large hedge sculpture of Two, holding up two of their fingers in a peace sign. In front of the sculpture was a white stand with only a red button on top of it.

Barf Bag, Puffball, and Cake finally caught up, and they were left just as surprised as Basketball at the sight. Cake was the first to step forward, turning in a circle to get a whole view of the area.

“Yay!” Grassy cheered, running forward toward the hedge sculpture, “Grassy was right!”

“You certainly were,” an impressed Barf Bag said. Puffball approached the button with Grassy.

“Are we supposed to press it?” the puff asked, orbiting the random button. Cake approached also, though much more apprehensively.

“I guess? There isn’t anything else for us to do.” Cake said, slowly lifting his leg to press the button. He came down, clicking the metal button, and as soon as he did he was engulfed in bright white light, causing the rest of his team to look away.

When the light faded they saw that Cake was no longer with them.

“Well,” Barf Bag said, impressed with Cake’s willingness to press the button, “guess that answers that.”

* * *

Two stood in the same spot, bored out of their gourd waiting for at least _one_ team to make it out of the maze. They made a mental note to make the next challenge a shorter one. That or to bring a book next time.

Their concerns were finally answered by a bright light above their head. They smiled, knowing this meant only one thing.

“Looks like our first contestants are safe!” Two said, blocking their eyes from the light with a big smile on their face.

When the light faded, five members of the Green Team sat in the grass, dazed from being teleported.

Basketball layed down on her back, Grassy on top of her. Barf Bag picked herself up, doing her best to not spill the contents of herself. Puffball spun slowly in the air, the wooziest of the group. Cake lay flat on his face, completely accepting of his fate.

“Congratulations, Green Team!” Two said happily, but then they counted how many Greeners were there, “Well, half of the Green Team! You guys are the first ones to escape the maze!”

“We are?” Barf Bag said, looking around and noticing that there were no other objects with Two, “Does that mean we’re safe?” she asked hopefully.

Two shook their head sadly, “You are not. Not yet at least. Half of your team is still in the maze.”

Cake lifted their head off the ground, spitting out grass, “I told you that we shouldn’t have split.”

“It’s fine,” Basketball said, carefully getting to her feet, “the other teams are still in the maze too.”

As if by some kind of divine intervention, Basketball’s reassuring words were interrupted by an ever brighter white light than the one from earlier. The Green Team members dived out of the way as the Yellow Team dropped triumphantly in front of them.

Well, triumphant was a bit of a stretch. How triumphant could it be when only Robot Flower and Donut landed on their feet?

“Yellow Team!” Two beamed, “You guys are the first full team to escape the maze, and the first team safe from elimination!”

“YES!” Snowball fist-pumped from his spot on the ground, “I did it!”

“YOU did it?” Gaty doubted, getting to her feet, “All we did was follow the Green Team.”

“Wait,” Basketball said, “you FOLLOWED us? You just rode our coattails!”

“And yet we’re safe and YOU’RE not!” RF said, her modulated voice filled with snark. Basketball marched up to her, no hesitation.

“Don’t forget I know how to take you apart!” she said, mere inches from Robot Flower’s center panel. Donut pushed the two former teammates apart so as to keep them from mauling each other.

Barf Bag sat down next to Grassy, who was very happy with himself that he’d gotten his team to the middle. All she could do was hope the other half of her team could make it to the middle.

And that Black Hole would keep them in line.

* * *

**Blue Team** **\- Fries, Clock, Bottle, Pillow**

Clock was having a bad day. Most of his days were bad, but this one, in particular, was rough. First, was the maze. Could you _get_ any more bland? Second, was the whole ranking chart debacle. He hadn’t known a thing about it and, in his eyes, his teammates had every right to be upset.

The only problem was he was now stuck with the three idiots that caused the problem in the first place.

“Are you mad, Fries?” Bottle asked, unable to read the current mood of the group.

“I am very mad, yes,” he answered honestly, no longer pulling punches. Pillow blew a raspberry at her teammate, “You’re being dramatic, Fries. It didn’t go _that_ badly.”

“I’d disagree,” Clock butted in, “in fact, I’d say it went about as wrong as it could’ve gone!” he shouted, finally snapping.

He turned around and, like a flash, got in Fries’ face.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” he seethed, trying his hardest not to raise his voice. Fries pushed back, refusing to back down from the smaller boy.

“I WAS going to tell you,” he spat back, “I hadn’t gotten the chance yet.”

Before the fight could escalate, Pillow stepped in between it.

“Stop arguing, you two,” she said firmly, “we need to get out of here before we break down.”

“Things have already broken down!” Clock raged, turning away from the three objects. His mood had gone from great frustration to boiling fury in a matter of seconds.

“Why’re you so mad, Clock?” Bottle queried, still not fully getting what the timekeeper was so upset over.

Clock felt like his face could crack. He slowly turned around his formally angry snarl now a face of complete neutrality.

“Why am I mad, Bottle? I’m mad because you and Pillow made a chart ranking our teammates, and then you told Fries and not,” Bottle was about to speak, but Clock stopped her by putting his foot up, “I KNOW that you planned on telling me, but it’s too late for that now. So, now our team is all split up and it’s only going to get worse.”

The four objects stood in silence. Fries rubbed his arm in discomfort and Pillow...Pillow wasn’t really paying attention. Clock was huffing like he’d run a mile. And Bottle?

Bottle hugged him.

She was deceptively strong, that or Clock was weaker than he originally thought. He feebly fought against her iron-like grip.

“I’m sorry, Clock.” she said, her airy, friendly tone of voice ever-present, “I’m sorry you’re upset, but we’re gonna make it right!”

After one more squeeze, she let Clock go so he could finally breathe. He looked up at the girl and was met with what looked like, in his eyes, the most sincere smile he’d ever seen.

“We’ll all stick together!” Bottle exclaimed, her enthusiasm never faltering, “Ranking chart or any ranking chart!”

“No ranking chart,” Fries declared, poking Pillow in the side, “understand that, Pillow?”

Pillow rolled her eyes with a wry smile on her face, “Okay, Fries. No charts.” She said coyly, poking Fries right back.

Clock was completely flabbergasted. He had NOT expected things to fix themselves that quickly. He’d been expecting a huge fight with everyone blowing up and a lot more yelling.

All thanks to Bottle.

Before he could say anything else he was interrupted by a commotion coming from around the next turn in front of them.

“I’m just saying that that hedge wall looks familiar,” Pen said, rounding the corner; Winner by his side.

“All the walls look the same, Pen,” Winner sighed, “you can’t tell them apart.”

“Stop arguing,” Remote said, marching past them. Black Hole floated above all three of them.

The Green Team members stopped in their tracks when they saw the Blue Team members.

Fries sighed, covering his face with his hands, “Well, this is just great.”

“Are you guys having any better luck than us?” Pen asked, tugging awkwardly at his cap.

“Probably not,” Clock said, quietly hoping Cake wasn’t about to round the corner, “I’m pretty sure we’ve explored the entire right side of the maze and we haven’t found the middle.”

“We haven’t either,” Black Hole shot back, “our team split up at the beginning of the maze.”

“Our team split up too!” Bottle chirped, “OH! Maybe we can stay together until we find the middle?”

“I’m uh...I’m not sure about that Bottle,” Clock said hesitantly. He looked to Fries who also didn’t look sure about the idea.

The Green Team wasn’t nearly as hesitant. “I think that’s smart. I think we’re better off together.” Remote said, her arms crossed.

Black Hole nodded (or his equivalent) in agreement. “It wouldn’t hurt anything. I mean, the worst-case scenario is we just keep...not finding the middle.”

Clock and Fries finally acquiesced, along with Winner and Pen, who also weren’t confident about the idea. The eight contestants melded together and began down a path that neither team had traveled yet.

* * *

**Red Team \- Bell & Golf Ball**

“BELL! STOP!”

Bell continued to ignore GB, just like she’d been doing for that last few minutes. The girl hadn’t stopped whining since the two split from the rest of their team. However, Bell was much larger and much stronger than the sports ball. So, all she could do was complain, much to Bell’s annoyance.

Bell pushed, causing Golf Ball to stumble forward. She’d pushed the girl down a dead-end path of the maze.

“W-what is the meaning of this!?” Golf Ball yelled, regaining her bearings. She looked around for some kind of exit, but she was cornered. She was stuck between a hedge wall and Bell.

“I...uh,” Bell stammered, her confidence evaporating. She hadn’t thought the plan through very well. She knew she’d distract Golf Ball so Lightning could talk to Cloudy. How _she_ would distract _Golf Ball_ hadn’t really been decided.

It was time to improvise.

“I needed to talk to you.”

Perfect.

GB eyed Bell skeptically. “Okay? Why did you need to separate us from the team to do so?”

“How...how are you doing?” Bell asked, trying not to sweat.

Golf Ball glared at her, “I was doing fine before you separated us from our team!” she said angrily, going to walk past Bell, but the girl shifted over to block her.

“That’s not w-what I meant. I meant...how are you adjusting?”

That got GB to stop, “How am I _adjusting_?”

“Yeah!” Bell exclaimed, trying to regain her confidence, “We’re all on different teams, and you’ve always been on a team with Tennis Ball. I just...wanted to see if you were holding up okay.”

GB stopped, analyzing Bell’s face for any sign of dishonesty. When she found none, she looked away, now much more unsure of herself.

“I’m,” GB hesitated, “I am okay. I do not need Tennis Ball on my team to function. I lead fine without him.”

“I thought you made Cloudy the leader?”

GB cringed at her slip-up, “He is, but I’m helping him become a better leader.”

“Is that why you two have been attached at the hip?” Bell questioned, sounding almost accusatory.

“Yes. Yes, it is.” GB said defensively. “Cloudy is smart and has untapped potential as a leader, so he needs help.”

Before Bell could shoot back GB swerved around her and back around the corner. Bell whipped around and watched Golf Ball walk away from her. The girl’s eyes narrowed. GB was sneakier than Bell’d originally given her credit for.

She just hoped Lightning was having better luck with Cloudy.

* * *

**Red Team** **\- Cloudy & Lightning**

Unlike the loud and aggressive pair of Bell and Golf Ball, the duo of Lightning and Cloudy couldn’t be anymore the opposite. Cloudy’s objections to Lightning dragging him around the maze died out after a few minutes. Lightning was stronger than him and so he saw no point in trying to break away.

“There,” Lightning said, finally letting Cloudy go, “that should be far enough to buy us some privacy.”

“Privacy? Lightning, what is this about?” Cloudy was baffled. One moment he was talking with Golf Ball and the next he was being whisked away by his fellow floating teammate.

Lightning awkwardly rubbed at his arm, “I just...wanted to know what you and Golf Ball have been talking about.”

The bolt had been prepped for a lot. Surprise, confusion, rage, and he’d planned an answer to any of those responses.

What he didn’t prepare for was fear.

Cloudy completely blanched at Lightning’s words. His eyes shifted from side to side, looking for an escape.

“She’s...she’s been helping me with my leadership abilities,” he finally said, not sounding confident.

Lightning wasn’t convinced, “Is that...all it’s been?” he asked cautiously as if he were walking on eggshells.

Cloudy swallowed a thick glob of saliva before speaking, “Why would it be anything else?”

“Because you’re shaking,” Lightning said, not convinced.

He was right. The cumulus cloud was shaking like a leaf. He didn’t know why he was so nervous. He could trust Lightning, couldn’t he?

Lightning, on the other hand, was keeping a close eye on the finicky cloud in case he tried to run. He had to calm him down.

“Look,” Lightning steeled himself, “we aren’t close and we don’t know each other very well, but we’re a team now. We should be able to talk to each other, and you going off with Golf Ball will only isolate you.”

Cloudy looked away, feeling shameful of his dishonesty, “You’re right, but nothing serious is happening. Golf Ball is just trying to help in her own...Golf Ball way.”

Lightning wasn’t sure how much he believed that, but he could tell it was all he was going to get at the moment. He trusted Lightning about as far as he could throw her, but he didn’t think Cloudy was lying. At least he didn’t _think_ he was lying.

This wasn’t even close to being solved.

Cloudy floated past Lighting, “Now let’s get back to the team so we can finish the challenge.”

Cloudy went to turn the corner before he stopped and slowly turned back to Lightning, a look of sudden realization on his face.

“Do...you remember the path to get back to the team?”

He did not.

* * *

Two had a bad feeling.

It made them worried; they weren’t used to bad feelings. Very little put them on edge, being a number usually made it so that there was nothing to worry about.

Unless, of course, there was another number nearby.

Two had never been good at playing well with others, ESPECIALLY other numbers. Taking the majority of Four’s contestants and shipping them off to...somewhere had felt like the crime of the century to Two. They’d be a liar if they said it hadn’t felt good.

Four was a joke and not someone to be concerned with. The manic math symbol was extremely powerful but lacked the ability to control themselves. Not like Two, Two never lost composure.

The others, on the other hand, were completely different beasts.

Two was pulled from their thoughts by the bright white light from earlier. Someone else had finished the maze.

Book and Needle landed on their feet, but Fanny and Eraser weren’t as lucky, both landing on their backs. Pie and Saw both stumbled but landed safely all the same. Two sped over, their cheery demeanor back in full swing.

“Red Team! Congrats on making it out of the maze,” they stopped, “however, you aren’t safe because-”

“We’re missing teammates,” Eraser interrupted, “we know.”

“Four of them to be specific,” Two added, “I can’t mark you safe until all team members have escaped the maze.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Fanny grumbled, getting to her feet, “we aren’t safe yet.”

“Well, you might be in a moment. Look!” Two pointed to the returning white light. From the brightness appeared Cloudy and Lightning, floating downward.

“Now, you only need your last two teammates!” Two said cheerfully.

Lightning scanned the area, confused, “Have Golf Ball and Bell not come back?”

“No. Not since you and her split the team up.” Needle chided.

“What was that even about?” Saw questioned.

Lightning crossed his arms and looked away from his team, “What? I’m not allowed to talk with my team leader?” he said defensively.

“Not when it costs us the challenge!” Fanny snapped, turning away from her team and walking away to blow off some steam. Book and Needle were next to walk away, followed by Pie and Saw. Eraser gave the two floating objects a skeptical looked before walking away himself.

Cloudy sighed, “I guess we have to hope that Golf Ball and Bell can find their way out by themselves.”

“I guess.” Lightning said quietly, Fanny’s words playing on repeat in his head. Cloudy moved away, but not before turning back to the bolt, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you for checking in on me, Lightning. I appreciate it,” he said sincerely.

Lightning felt very awkward all of a sudden. He wasn’t used to praise or gratitude. He kind of liked it.

“It’s okay, Cloudy,” Lightning said, smiling back, “we’re a team, and we should be able to trust each other.”

Cloudy nodded and floated off toward the departing Red Team. Lightning’s smile dropped. His questioning hadn’t given him the results he’d been hoping for. He knew that whatever was going on with Cloudy involved Golf Ball, but he already knew that. He’d have to dig a little deeper.

He just hoped that Bell was having a bit more luck.

* * *

“Admit it! You have no idea where we are!”

“I won’t admit that because it isn’t true!”

“We have been walking in circles!”

“Well, if you have any ideas I’d LOVE to hear them!” Bell shouted, inches from Golf Ball’s face. The ball didn’t back down, standing toe to toe with the brass noisemaker.

After Bell confronted GB, she’d made it clear that she wouldn’t be spilling and more information about Cloudy. So, she gave up and attempted to go back to where they’d left their team.

Only they couldn’t find it.

“I can’t believe they didn’t wait for us.” Bell frowned, unable to see anyone except for Golf Ball, who was _not_ happy with her.

“Why would they,” GB said passively, side-eyeing her teammates, “I am assuming they were not involved with your plan to interrogate me?”

Bell groaned, “It wasn’t an interrogation, GB. I’m allowed to ask you questions.”

GB only scoffed before passing by Bell without another word. Bell felt like she could scream. Dealing with Golf Ball when she didn’t want to cooperate was like pulling teeth, and it didn’t help that neither of them knew where they were going.

It was moments like this that made Bell wish that she could disappear.

* * *

**Blue & Green Team** **\- Fries, Bottle, Clock, Pillow, Black Hole, Winner, Pen, Remote**

The combo of the Blue and Green Team members had melded together almost seamlessly. The former Death P.A.C.T. members (minus Pen) were all playing catch up with each other. That left Fries, Clock, Winner, and Pen to be on their lonesome. They weren’t really in a talkative mood.

“So, how have things been going on the Blue Team?” Black Hole asked.

“They’ve been great!” Bottle said happily as if she’d been completely unaware of the divide her team was currently in. “What about you guys?”

“It’s been...hard.” Remote said honestly, “Our team is having a hard time mixing.”

“Maybe you aren’t trying hard enough.” Pillow said bluntly, “Bottle and I put in the effort and our team is coming together great.” she said, knowing full well that was a lie.

Black Hole and Remote didn’t know that it was a lie, however, as they nodded along with what Pillow was saying. Maybe she was right. Neither of them had been necessarily...trying to create a stable team.

That’d have to change.

“Hey, guys!” Winner called from ahead of the group, “I think I found what we’re supposed to be lookin’ for.”

The other seven objects ran toward Winner at the sound of their words. They saw what the puff was looking at and were surprised to see a large hedge statue of Two in the middle of a sort of courtyard.

“Is this it?” Black Hole wondered out loud. Clock stepped forward, determination on his face.

“Only one way to find out.”

* * *

Two and all the other safe contestants covered their eyes from the returning white light. The eight objects dropped down in front of the green number, who smiled at them.

“Congrats, you guys! You made it out of the maze!” Two burst, “And that means that all Green Team members have escaped the maze and are safe from elimination!”

“Yes!” Barf Bag yelled, running up with her other team members. She wrapped her arms around Pen and Remote and pulled them into a tight hug.

“I knew you guys could do it!” she said happily, pulling the two in closer. Pen and Remote shared an uncomfortable glance, but they didn’t want to ruin the moment. They were safe, so why not enjoy it a little?

“Hey, Two! What about us?” Fries questioned. Two shook their head, an apologetic look on their face.

“Sorry, Fries, but there’s still Blue Team members in the maze,” they said sadly.

Fries facepalmed, “I should’ve guessed they’d still be in there somewhere.”

“It’s fine,” Clock strained, “I’m sure they’ll be out any second.”

* * *

“Okay, I’m gonna say it,” Tree said, hands on his hips, “I have no idea where we’re going.”

“We probably shouldn’t have split up,” Tennis Ball said, exhaustion clearly evident on his face. He’d have to ask Two to slow down with all the physical challenges.

“I don’t regret it,” Coiny stated firmly, “those guys are jerks for what they did!”

“We still...all need to get out of the maze to be safe,” TB huffed. His legs felt weak, and he was beginning to stumble.

“And we will,” Naily said, nudging TB’s side, “we just gotta keep at it.”

Tennis Ball frowned. Much easier said than done.

Pin rubbed her chin, analyzing the paths in front of her. “We have covered a good portion of the upper side of the maze. I think we need to start moving downward.”

Before anyone could question her she took off down a diverging pathway. Tree and Coiny were quick to follow after her. TB leaned on a hedge wall, still trying his best to catch his breath. Naily wasn’t having it, however, pushing him forward after the rest of their team.

* * *

“Let’s make a right!”

“This is the third right in a row!”

Golf Ball felt like she could grind her teeth into nubs from the anger she was feeling. Everything had been going so well before today. Working with Cloudy, establishing her place in the team, she liked the looks of her prospects.

And then Bell happened.

“You leading us took us in circles!” GB screamed back, not caring whether or not anyone could hear her, “I WANT to get us out of here!”

“And what? You think I don’t?” Bell fired back, not liking the other girl’s tone.

GB huffed, marching away from her, “Maybe you don’t. You already separated us from the rest of the team.”

GB turned a corner, leaving a silently fuming Bell in her wake.

* * *

“Pin, slow down!” Coiny yelled while running after his friend, “You’re killing me!”

“We are on the right track,” Pin shouted back, not even turning around, “we have to keep moving!"

Tree, who wasn’t faring much better than Coiny, ran up beside him, “Did you get through to h-her?”

Coiny shook his head, “We-we’re gonna have to keep running.” Tree groaned in response, his branches shaking from the exertion.

At the back of the pack were Tennis Ball and Naily, who were still working in tandem with each other. Or at least it was Naily helping Tennis Ball.

By rolling him along the path.

“Naily!” TB yelled in a vain attempt to get the girl to stop, “I’m gonna be sick!”

“Don’t care!” she cried back at him, “We just lost Icy! We can’t lose anybody else!”

Naily kept pushing forward, doing her best not fall behind from the rest of her team.

* * *

Golf Ball made another turn, “I think we are close.”

Bell didn’t respond, she just followed after the girl leading her. Arguing was pointless by now, all she could do was hope that Golf Ball was on the right track.

* * *

“Look!” Lightning shouted out while pointing up to the white light, which had returned at full force. All the contestants waited with bated breath to see who would come out of the blinding glow.

Pin was the first to come out, followed by Tree and Coiny. Tennis Ball and Naily plopped out last, the former landing on his face and not getting up. Two raised their hands in celebration, a small amount of confetti coming out.

“That’s the last of the Blue Team and they’re safe from elimination!” they then pointed over at the eight members of the Red Team.

“And that means the Red Team has lost and are up for elimination!”

“Oh, my baker. Seriously?” Pie moaned, flopping to the ground in defeat. Needle crossed her arms and kicked some stones.

Two snapped their fingers twice. The first time caused the maze to melt away into green light, and the second one caused Bell and Golf Ball to teleport to the rest of the group.

“Great job, guys,” Eraser said lazily, slow clapping for the duo, “really great job.”

Golf Ball looked away, an indignant look on her face, “I blame Bell for our teams lost.”

Bell did a double-take at the ball, “Me!?”

Golf Ball whipped back around, her look of frustration replaced with boiling fury, “Yes, you! You separated us from the rest of the team!”

Book was quick to get in between the two before they could come to blows. The team blew up; Bell and Golf Ball shouting at each other, Book and Needle trying to hold them back while also yelling, and Saw and Eraser watching on; one with distress and one with indifference. Fanny, in a shocking amount of restraint, just sat down in the grass and sighed.

All while Lightning and Cloudy slowly snuck away from the chaos.

A few feet away, the Blue Team melded back together.

“I knew you guys would make it out!” Bottle happily greeted her returning teammates. Fries and Clock shared uneasy glances, while Pillow watched on with curious eyes.

“Yeah, that’s great,” Tree said dismissively, “we need to talk about this chart you guys made.”

“That Pillow and Bottle made.” Clock corrected, but Tree ignored him.

“You’ll need to get rid of it if we’re gonna work together,” he said seriously. Pin and Naily nodded in agreement.

“That’s fine.” Fries said, giving Pillow a mean look, “We never agreed to it in the first place.” Pillow only rolled her eyes in response.

“And we’re gonna make sure NOTHING like this happens again!” Coiny said, wrapping his arms around both Tree and Pin, “There’ll be power pyramids with us around!”

Clock looked at the group quizzically, “So, what? You guys have like...unionized?”

Tree took a moment to think, but was interrupted by Naily, “Yeah, we’ve unionized! We’re The Union now!”

“I kind of like the sound of that,” Tree said absentmindedly, “The Union,” he whispered to himself.

Fries winced, beginning to get flashbacks to FreeSmart. Nothing was worse than a clique, and he was watching one form right in front of him.

Pin, Naily, and Coiny went off in one direction, the two ladder chanting “UNION” as they marched. Tree went off in another direction, still in his own head. Tennis Ball was the only member of “The Union” left. He gave the other four Blue Team members a “we’ll talk about this later” look before walking off by himself.

Clock sighed as he watched his team disperse, “Nothing can ever just be easy, can it?”

Pillow gave him a comforting pat on the head, “Don’t worry, Clock. It could be worse.” she gestured over to the Red Team, who were all still at each other's throats, “you could be with them.”

Clock sighed once again, “Yeah. Yeah, I guess.”

* * *

**“Make sure to use the link below to vote on which member of the Red Team you want to be eliminated from The Power of Two! Voting ends on March 3rd!”**

**Voting Poll:**

[ **https://linkto.run/p/LA6XR86C** ](https://linkto.run/p/LA6XR86C)

* * *

**Teams**

**Red Team:** Book, Golf Ball, Eraser, Bell, Fanny, Saw, Lightning, Needle, Cloudy, Pie

 **Blue Team:** Pin, Tree, Pillow, Fries, Coiny, Clock, Bottle, Naily, Tennis Ball

 **Yellow Team:** Donut, TV, Snowball, Robot Flower, Nickel, Foldy, Gaty, Marker, Bomby

 **Green Team:** Black Hole, Pen, Remote, Puffball, Winner, Grassy, Barf Bag, Cake, Basketball

 **The Statues:** Eggy, Rocky, Ice Cube

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How funny is it that the chapter that I thought I may not finish ends up being the longest one yet. Weird. I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that supported the work and want me to keep going. You guys are kind of the reason I'm gonna keep at it, so thank you for that.


End file.
